Symphony of Fate
by Wooden Machete
Summary: After failing to defeat Sasuke, Naruto makes an unlikely friend in the form of a certain redhead. Now the two will experience many hardships and obstacles as they fight to protect what's most important to them. NaruTayu Rated for Tayuya's mouth and sexual suggestions.
1. One Door Closes

**Symphony of Fate**

_Chapter 1: One Door Closes_

_**Author's Note:** This is my first fanfic. I've had it in my head for a while now and just decided to type it up. I'm not completely happy with this first chapter, I feel its a little rough but oh well. Please read and review but no flames please. This is a NaruTayu fic. The first two chapters are more of a prologue before things get moving._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters, they all belong to Masashi Kishimoto._

* * *

Rain began to fall in the Valley of the End as the viscous clash of Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha had come to a close. The clouds above were grey as the sky continued to weep at the events that had just taken place. Laying on the ground not far from where the two had clashed just minutes earlier was Naruto, with Sasuke's headband in his hand. Sasuke stood over Naruto, barely the victor of their intense contest. Their battle now over, Sasuke fell to his knees and leaned over Naruto's unconscious form. His face drew closer as he stared at his former teammate's face as though he were looking for something that he just couldn't see. It was no use, he couldn't do it. He couldn't bring himself to kill Naruto. A lone tear fell from Sasuke's face as he looked at the expression of his one true friend.

He remembered Itachi's words to him long ago. _'__Foolish little brother. If you want to kill me, hate me, detest me, and survive in an unsightly way. Run, run and cling to life. And then some day, when you have the same eyes as I do, come before me. ' _Sasuke clutched his head in pain at hearing Itachi's voice in his head. Gritting his teeth he again looked at Naruto. As he stared into the closed eyes of his former comrade he could do nothing but remember all they had been through together. He thought of Naruto's words earlier.

_**Flashback**_

"_Why, why won't you just leave me alone?"__ Sasuke screamed at Naruto._

_Naruto frowned, his eyes were red and the marks on his face more defined. "Because you… are the first bond I've ever had… And I'll do anything to protect that bond!"_

_Sasuke was shocked as Naruto was enveloped by a menacing fox-like aura. His appearance had become less human and more like that of a demon. Sasuke could do nothing but stare in awe at the raw power emanating from the blonde. Finally he was able to speak as he uttered the only words on his mind at that moment, "What are you?"_

_Tears welled up in Naruto's eyes as he got on all fours, his one-tailed transformation complete. "I'm your friend!"_

_Sasuke was taken aback by the statement but he quickly regained his composure and the two continued with their bout._

_**Flashback End**_

Shakily, Sasuke rose back to his feet, stumbling a few times in the process. A million thoughts and feelings swirled around inside him. He looked up at the sky with a sad expression and closed his eyes in thought. _'Naruto….Itachi… I won't be like you.__'_ The raven haired boy glanced back at Naruto one last time. _'I'll obtain power my __own way.' _Adopting a serious expression, Sasuke turned towards the path to Orochimaru's hideout and set off, intent on obtaining the power he so desperately needs.

* * *

Not far away from the Valley of the End, Tayuya quietly made her escape. She had no idea how she managed to survive having practically an entire forest dropped down on her but somehow she had made it out without serious injury. She was also able to cast a small genjutsu on a log to make it look like her and place the log amongst the carnage so that it looked like she had been killed. It wasn't much but it was enough to fool that worn out pineapple head and the Suna bitch who were busy flirting with one another. They just gave the decoy a quick glance and thought it was good enough, giving her just enough time to escape. She had almost blown it immediately after by running into another Suna shinobi and a Konoha shinobi wearing a ridiculous green jumpsuit in a nearby clearing. Luckily they were both dog tired and she was able to slip around them without them noticing her. After she had snuck by she continued on her path.

She would admit, she was incredibly lucky to be alive at the moment. Though she was rather cut up and she was pretty sure her left arm was broken. She had also lost her hat in the chaos so her red hair flowed freely to her waist. Her clothes were dirty and torn but not too bad. On top of it all she was almost out of chakra and was completely exhausted. Even so she continued on through the forest.

Eventually she ended up at a huge roaring waterfall with two giant shinobi statues on either side of the river that flowed through. This was the Valley of the End, she could tell there had been a fight here not long ago. The ground was torn up and burned in places.

Since the place where the Suna boy and the Konoha jumpsuit wearing boy were was where Kimimaro fought, she guessed that Sasuke must've awakened and fought someone here. _'I don't know what__ happened here but from the looks of this place, someone got fucked up.' _She thought as she looked around for any bodies or blood.

Then something caught her eye: a spot of orange at the feet of the statue of Hashirama Senju. Deciding to investigate it, she made her way down to the feet of the statue. To her surprise she found the blonde boy from earlier. Something about the sight was unsettling. His shirt had a hole through the chest as though he had been pierced by something, yet there was no hole in his chest or even a small wound. Also he seemed to be clutching a Konoha headband with a scratch across it. She guessed it wasn't his seeing as he had one on his head already.

But the eeriest thing was his face. Despair was etched all over it, even while he was unconscious. She knew that face well. The face of someone who has lost something important. The face of loneliness. She felt her own heart ache at the sight. Feeling tired from her battles and escape she decided to take a seat on the foot of Hashirama's statue and rest for a few minutes.

Tayuya looked up at the waterfall and watched it flow as she lost herself in her thoughts. _'Now that I think about it… I can't return to Orochimaru, I'll only be killed. There's no way he'll be forgiving with the death of__ Kimimaro and Sasuke's late arrival. He probably ended up taking another host body by this time… I…. I have nowhere to return to… Just like before.'_ She closed her eyes and her hand drifted to the Curse Mark on her neck. She could still feel it. As long as she still had it Orochimaru could kill her with it. But the worst part for her was that she could feel his presence inside of her as long as she had the seal. She opened her eyes and looked up at the statue of Madara Uchiha. _'As long as I have this seal, __my life could end at any minute. If he finds out I haven't died yet then he'll surely kill me to prevent his secrets from being leaked to anyone… Nowhere to go… No one to run to… My life could end at any moment… Why did I even bother running from those two in the forest? Why didn't I just let myself be crushed by all the trees… It would've been better than having to be alone again…'_

She was shaken from her thoughts by a groan. On instinct she stood up and drew a kunai. She spun around to see that the source of the groan was the blonde boy from earlier. His eyes were now open and he was trying to raise himself off the ground but was in too much pain. He had apparently not noticed her presence. She slowly walked towards him in a defensive stance should he try to attack her.

He finally was able to raise himself to a sitting position. Hearing the girl's footsteps he quickly turned his head to look at her. She froze in her tracks as they stared at each other for a moment. After a couple of seconds his eyes widened and he realized he was clutching something in his hand. He looked to see that it was Sasuke's headband, with a single scratch across it. His eyes softened as he stared at it.

Seeing this, Tayuya relaxed from her stance and put up her kunai. "You're the brat from earlier right?" She asked.

Naruto, who had seemingly forgotten her presence, was snapped out of his musings by the girl's question. He stared at her for a second before realization hit him. "You're the Sound Four girl. The one with the foul mouth." He stated as his memory slowly came back to him.

A tick mark grew on Tayuya's head at his statement. "It's Tayuya and who the Hell has a foul mouth shithead?" Despite the situation Naruto chuckled at her words. She let out a sigh as she walked over to him. He gave her a puzzled look as she extended a hand towards him. He stared at it for a second and blinked. "Here, you're having trouble standing right?" She asked as she looked away with a slight pinkish tint on her cheeks.

Naruto blinked again then took her hand. She pulled him to his feet and he almost fell back down immediately but she caught him. He smiled sheepishly at her. "Thanks for the help." She nodded and steadied him before letting him go so he could stand on his own. "So, not that I don't appreciate it, but why are you helping me exactly?"

Tayuya shrugged. "I don't really know why myself. Technically I failed my mission for Orochimaru so if I were to return the fucker would kill me. Although, with my Curse Mark that pedo-bastard could probably kill me anyway if he found out I'm alive. The point is as of right now I have no ties with Otogakure or Orochimaru."

Naruto stared into her eyes intently, searching for any source of a lie, causing her to give him a curious look. After finding no indication of a lie he smiled at her. "I believe you, and thanks for helping me up."

Surprised by his words and kind smile, a slight blush crossed the redhead's face. She'd never been thanked for anything before, not seriously anyway. Sure Sakon or Jirobo had given a 'Thanks' when she covered their asses in a fight but this was different. It was genuine. Tayuya looked away to cover her blush and spoke up once again. "You really believed me that easily, even though not even an hour ago we were enemies?"

Naruto's face became serious and the air around him became dark, surprising the redhead. "The way I see it, right now we both have a common enemy." He paused and smiled sadly at the redhead. "And besides that, when I looked in your eyes I saw something… They're the same as mine. Eyes that hide sadness, loneliness, anger. They're eyes of someone who desperately needs a friend."

"What the fuck do you know about what I've been through! Don't talk as if you know me!" Tayuya yelled as she took a step towards the blonde. Naruto looked at her with the same expression. She suddenly regretted her harsh words. The redheaded teen sighed and scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "S-Sorry. I didn't mean to snap like that, it's a habit."

"It's alright I-ACK!" Naruto was interrupted by a sharp pain in his ribs causing him to double over and fall to a knee.

The redheaded girl took a step towards him and steadied him so that he wouldn't fall over again. "You're injuries are pretty bad… We gotta get you to a hospital quick."

Naruto looked up at her and smiled weakly. "Thanks again for this."

Tayuya sighed as she draped his arm over her shoulder so he could lean on her. "Yeah, yeah, don't mention it shithead. So from here we can either go to Konoha or to the closest hospital which, as far as I know, is located a little ways off just into the Land of Sound."

Naruto looked down at the ground. "Not Konoha… I…. I can't show my face there right now. Not until I've brought Sasuke back."

Tayuya simply sighed and turned in the direction of the Land of Sound. "Land of Sound it is then." And with that the two set off.

* * *

After taking Naruto to the hospital in the Land of Sound she sat at his bedside. It had been two days since they arrived. Tayuya had been treated for minor injuries but Naruto's were a bit more serious. He had many broken and fractured bones and lots of cuts all over his body along with some internal bleeding. Surprisingly though he healed very quickly and was pretty much just resting now.

She had decided to atleast stay until the blonde was released. After all she really didn't have anywhere to go anyway. Besides that there was something odd about Naruto Uzumaki, something that intrigued her that she couldn't put her finger on. Perhaps it was that look on his face he'd had since she found him at the Valley of the End. It was a face full of sorrow and despair, the face of someone who had been betrayed.

She carefully studied the blonde sleeping in the bed next to her. She could tell that even now losing his friend was troubling him. The Uchiha had clearly been a very close friend of the blonde. Since the time she found him he hadn't let go of Sasuke's old headband. He still had a death grip on it.

After a few minutes of sitting in silence, Tayuya watched in shock as Naruto inhaled a sharp breath before shooting up to a sitting position, breathing heavily. Naruto took a quick look at his surroundings and relaxed a bit as he tried to catch his breath. Tayuya sat in her seat beside the bed a curious expression on her face. "Damn blondie, you scared the shit out of me. Was it a nightmare?" The redhead asked.

Naruto looked down to the headband he clutched in his hands. He closed his eyes as memories of Team 7 rushed to his head. "Yeah…" He answered in a low tone.

Tayuya's face hardened at his response and she looked out the window beside her seat. "It was about the Uchiha kid right?"

Naruto didn't answer, he just opened his eyes and continued to stare at the headband.

_**Flashback: Naruto's Nightmare**_

_Naruto stood on the top of the statue of Hashirama Senju staring at the raven haired boy standing atop the head of the Madara Uchiha statue. He gritted his teeth as the boy began to laugh maniacally. "You're a fool Naruto, there's no way you can beat me." Sasuke taunted._

"_Sasuke!" Naruto yelled as he charged at the boy only to be met with a well-placed kick to the head sending him to the foot of the waterfall below. He qucikly got to his feet just in time to be hit with a huge fireball. With no time to dodge it he took the brunt of the attack and shrieked in pain. The feeling of his flesh melting off his bones was the most intense pain he'd ever felt and the fact that his best friend had caused it was even more painful._

_The flames cleared and Naruto stood burned and panting as Sasuke landed on the water a few yards away, a smug look on his face. Naruto mustered up what little strength he had and rushed at his friend, intent on beating some sense into him. But Sasuke intercepted the blonde easily, dodging a punch from Naruto and connecting with a knee to the stomach. He followed with a right hook and then a kick to the chin that sent the blonde flying into the air. Sasuke then leapt into the air after him, charging a chidori, which he then slammed into the blonde's torso. The force sent Naruto rocketing into the water below. _

_Underwater his body felt heavy, much heavier than usual. It was like each of his limbs weighed hundreds of pounds and just moving one was a battle. He struggled to fight his way from the depths up towards the surface, all the while on the verge of suffocation. He finally was able to surface from the water but couldn't move at all. He was paralyzed as Sasuke began to chuckle darkly and transform into his second level of the Cursed Seal._

"_You know Naruto, you're my best friend in the world… And that is why I need to kill you!" The Uchiha said as he formed some quick handseals and began charging a black chidori. "Now just die!" _

_Without any time to react, Sasuke's chidori had pierced his chest. The raven haired Uchiha pulled his hand from Naruto's chest and began once again laughing histerically as Naruto descended into the water he had been floating on. He felt his body becoming cold and going numb as he sunks lower in the water. Unable to move he sunk lower and lower, the water pressure crushing his body as he sunk for what seemed like an eternity, slowly descending into darkness. Finally he felt himself run out of breath and the pressure simultaneously crush his body. Forcing him awake._

_**Flashback End**_

After a few seconds of silence Tayuya spoke again, "I know it's tough… Being betrayed by someone close to you… someone you love…"

Naruto looked up at the girl, her words finally catching his attention. She continued to stare out the window as the sky began to darken from thunderclouds rolling in. "It hurts… I can tell when I look at you, you've been through a lot of pain too… There's nothing I can say to make you feel better. I can tell you all day that 'It'll get better' or 'Maybe he'll come back one day' but the truth is he's gone. The best thing you can do now is face it and move on."

Naruto gritted his teeth and lowered his head. "So you're telling me to give up? You're saying I should let him follow Orochimaru? You don't know Sasuke! He was… my best friend… I can't just stop trying to bring him back!" He yelled.

Tayuya now looked back at the blonde. "I'm not saying you should give up on him, I'm saying you should move on. You should get stronger, so that one day you can bring him back with your own power. Sitting around and moping isn't going to help anything."

Naruto relaxed hearing her words. He had snapped at her without understanding what she meant. "Sorry… I didn't mean to snap like that…"

Tayuya leaned back in her chair lazily and closed her eyes. "Don't worry about it shithead, I completely understand where you're coming from." Naruto gave a small smile though the girl couldn't see with her eyes closed. "So are you sure you don't wanna get back to your village? Won't your parents get pissed?"

Naruto tensed at her words and the smile left his face. "It'll be alright, I'm an orphan."

Hearing this Tayuya, who was in the middle of strectching her arms back and yawning, froze. She sat up at attention and to Naruto's surprise gave him a small smile. "Seriously? I'm an orphan too actually. I grew up in a small town on the border of the Land of Waterfalls and the Land of Earth. My dad had been a missing-nin from Iwagakure and my mom was a medic-nin that worked at the town's hospital. My dad died when I was a baby and my mom got sick and died when I was seven. After that I decided to become a shinobi so I could have the strength to support and protect myself. I went to Takigakure graduated at their shitty academy and became a shinobi at the age of ten. Then one day pedo-fucker stopped by the village and promised that if I came with him I'd be able to get stronger and being the lonely dumbass I was I fell for it. The rest is history."

Naruto was surprised to hear a story like that from her. Something about it didn't add up but he didn't feel right prying for more after she just confessed all of that to him. "I can relate to that, I never knew my parents so I lived in an orphanage till I was six then they kicked me out. After that the Hokage got me a small apartment to stay in. Most of the villagers didn't like me so I was pretty much ignored or beaten if I went out. It sucked being alone so I always tried to get people to pay attention to me with pranks. After a while I realized that wasn't enough and decided I'd become Hokage so that people would acknowledge me. For that reason I became a shinobi and here I am today."

Tayuya let out a whistle as he finished his story. "Dang you had it rough blondie. No offense but I don't see how you can grow up like that and not be a complete asshole or a fucking emo prick."

Naruto looked her in the eyes. "You're right. At first I was so lonely that I hated it. There were times I wanted to hurt the people that spat on me and called me names. I was lonely and depressed and I probably would've ended up a lot worse if I hadn't found something important."

The girl gave him a puzzled look. "Something important? Like what?"

Naruto smiled brightly as he thought of Iruka, the Sandaime, Sakura, Sasuke, Kakashi, Tsunade, Shizune, and the rest of the Konoha eleven. "I found people that were precious to me. People I could count on and wanted to protect. Friends. And now that I have those bonds I cherish them, I make them my reason to continue on."

Tayuya was impressed by his speech. She hadn't expected such words to come from an idiot like him. Even she had to admit it was pretty damn inspirational even if it was kinda sappy. She looked away to hide the small smile spreading on her face and decided to change the subject. "So tell me, if you're not going back to Konoha then what will you do next?"

Naruto frowned and started to think. He really hadn't thought about it until now. He knew he wasn't ready to return to the village though, he couldn't face everyone after all that had happened. The more he thought about it he only had one choice. "I think I'm gonna travel around. I can't return to the village yet, there are people there I'm not ready to face…" Visions of Sakura and Kakashi ran through his head. "I've always wanted to see what the world is like outside the village."

Tayuya nodded. She could sympathize with that. She couldn't return to Otogakure either unless she wanted to die quickly. Traveling around didn't sound like too bad of an idea. "Not a bad idea at all shithead." She stood up and extended a hand to the boy for a handshake. "Alright, I'll tag along too!"

"EH? You mean you want to come with me?" The blonde asked, surprised by her actions.

"Well someone has to keep you out of trouble, atleast till your injuries are completely healed. Besides, thanks to you and your damn friends I failed my mission so you have to take responsibility!"

"Well when you put it like that…" Naruto took her hand and gave it a shake as he gave her a foxy grin. "Welcome aboard!"

Tayuya smiled at the blonde and the two shared a laugh. "So I don't think I ever caught your name shithead."

"Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki. You'll wanna remember that name, because I'll be the Hokage one day!" He said with another foxy grin.

"Yeah I'm sure." Tayuya rolled her eyes. She wasn't sure what to make of Naruto Uzumaki. He seemed alright, though he was clearly very dense. "Well I'm Tayuya, Tayuya Utawara. I don't really have anything like becoming the fuckin' Hokage for a dream. I'll settle for living to see tomorrow."

After a few seconds of silence Naruto remembered her Curse Mark. He remembered what she had said about Orochimaru being able to kill her with it at will. If he could do that then chances are it was only a matter of time before he sensed she was alive and killed her with it. "Tayuya-chan, you're Curse Mark, you said Orochimaru can kill you with it?"

She rubbed the mark with one hand as she looked up at the ceiling nonchalantly. "Yeah. If he finds out I'm not dead he'll most likely use the Curse Mark to kill me. So there's no telling how long I'll be able to travel with you but it probably won't be very long before he finds out the truth."

Naruto put his hand on his chin, deep in thought. After a few minutes he snapped his fingers. "I've got it!" Tayuya gave him a puzzled look as he formed a few handseals. "Kuchiyose no jutsu!" In a puff of smoke a small orange toad was sitting on the bed with Naruto. "Gamakichi!"

The toad looked up at its summoner and smiled. "Hey Naruto, long time, no see!"

"Alright I need a favor Gamakichi. How fast can you get Jiraiya here?"

Instead of answering with words the small toad made a few handsigns. "Gyakyu Kuchiyose no jutsu!" Gamakichi exclaimed as a puff of smoke again filled the room.

Naruto looked to see standing before them in a crouching position with a spyglass to his eye and a perverted look on his face was none other than Jiraiya of the legendary sannin.

Jiraiya quickly realized he was no longer spying on a women's hot springs and had been summoned to another location. He hung his head in disappointment. "Just when it was getting good too!" He whined as he cried anime tears. He then took notice of Naruto in bandages laying in a hospital bed. His expression quickly turned serious. "Naruto, you're alright! We were worried when the search team couldn't find you. We thought you had been killed."

Naruto frowned. "I…can't return to the village just yet… I actually had gamakichi bring you here for another reason." He said gesturing towards the redhead at his bedside.

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow and looked from the redhead to the blonde a few times before adopting a creepy smile and nudging Naruto in the side. "Ah, I get it now. You've been playing house with this girl the past couple of days, that's why you're not coming back yet ri-" He was stopped by a hit on the head courtesy of a certain blonde jinchuuriki.

"Stop with your perverted thoughts Ero-Sennin! This is important!" He yelled as Tayuya raised an eyebrow at the two. Jiraiya rubbed the lump on his head and glared at Naruto who glared back before pointing to Tayuya. "This is Tayuya, she's a former member of the Sound Four." He paused expecting a strong reaction from the toad sage.

Jiraiya just nodded calmly. "Yes I know who she is gaki. And I'm guessing by the look of things she helped you out and you had Gamakichi bring me here to do something about her Curse Mark right?" Naruto and Tayuya both blinked and looked at each other then back at the toad sage dumbfounded. "What? Don't forget I am The Great Jiraiya of the Sannin! I have an incredible intelligence network all over the shinobi world." He boasted as he struck a pose.

Naruto looked at him with admiration. "Ero-sennin is so cool!"

"Hahahaha! Of course I'm the coolest and strongest there is gaki!"

Tayuya sweatdropped at the display. "So, uh… does this mean you'll help remove my seal?" The redhead asked nervously getting the two's attention.

Jiraiya's expression became serious and he crossed his arms. "I'll help you but I won't be able to remove the seal. I can however counter the part of it that allows Orochimaru to have any control of its power."

"Really? So you could cancel it out so that he couldn't kill me or sense me with it but I could still use its power?"

"Yep, basically. I've done extensive research on Orochimaru's Cursed Seals and although I haven't yet been able to remove it this is the next best thing."

The redhead nearly leapt out of her seat at the news. "Hell yeah! I can't wait to see the look on that pedo-fucker's face when I use the Curse Seal against him!" She said with an evil grin.

Naruto and Jiraiya sweatdropped at her antics. "Alright, enough talk. Let's get started." The Sannin said as he made a handsign and a small scroll appeared in his hand. He opened the scroll and began drawing the proper seals. Both Naruto and Tayuya watched in fascination as he expertly drew every seal with speed and precision. After a few minutes he stopped and pulled out a kunai. "Ok, now Tayuya I need some of your blood for the next step."

"No problem." She said as he tossed her the kunai. She made a quick cut across her palm and extended the hand towards the white haired sage. Jiraiya pulled out a small brush, dipped it in her blood, and began drawing the rest of the required seals.

After about ten minutes of drawing the seals he was done. Tayuya had bandaged her hand to stop the bleeding. They had both been intrigued by the man's knowledge of fuinjutsu, Naruto more so as Tayuya got bored watching the Toad Sannin draw the seals after the first few minutes. With one last seal Jiraiya finished.

"There we go. That was the last of them." Jiraiya said as he closed the scroll and formed a series of handsigns that caused the scroll to glow then disappear. "Alright Tayuya, let me see your seal." The girl did as was asked and turned her back to him holding her hair up revealing the seal on the back of her neck. "This will hurt a bit but bear with it, it'll be a lot better than dying one of Orochimaru's slaves. Fūinjutsu: Juutori Fuin! (Sealing Technique: Ten Birds Seal!)" Jiraiya yelled as his hand began to glow a bright blue color. He slammed his hand into the seal on her neck.

"HOLY FUCK!" Tayuya screamed as her seal began to burn. It was burning with the intensity of a raging inferno, making the girl cry out a violent stream of curses. "FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK! DAMNIT MAKE IT STOP! IT FUCKING HURTS LIKE SHIT! YOU OLD DICKLESS MOTHERFUCKER! YOU FUCKING COCKBITE SHITEATER!"

Jiraiya sweatdropped as he continued applying the seal. Naruto just blinked, unsure of how to react to what his ears were hearing. Tayuya continued to yell out for the entire ten minutes it took to apply the seal. By the end of it they had heard the redhead scream things that were funny, odd, sick, and just plain messed up.

Once the seal was complete Tayuya had already passed out from the pain. Naruto and Jiraiya took a look at the new seal. It was comprised of her old seal with a small circle in the middle of the three line's and the whole thing was now surrounded by a diamond like shape.

"Whew. That's quite a lady friend you've picked up there Naruto. And quite a colorful vocabulary she's got." Jiraiya said with a laugh as he took a seat next to Naruto's bed.

Naruto sweatdropped and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah well…"

"Naruto," Jiraiya addressed the blonde seriously. Said blonde was caught off guard by the man's sudden change in expression. "I'm ok with you not going back to the village, actually I was waiting for you to come back so I could ask you."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Ask me what?"

Jiraiya turned to look at him. "To become my apprentice. I was going to take you away from the village for a while to train."

"Seriously? That's awesome! I've been waiting for something like this!" Said the ecstatic blonde. _'This is my chance. If Sasuke's gonna be training with Orochimaru then I'll get stronger too so I can __bring him back.'_ He smiled with determination at the thought. His thoughts were interrupted however when he saw the redhead sleeping in the chair by his bed. He frowned as he looked back at Jiraiya. "I want to come with you but… I can't leave her alone, she's got nowhere to go now. I'm sorry Ero-sennin."

Jiraiya looked at the boy for a moment, it was obvious he was conflicted. "What is it about this girl that is so important to you gaki?"

Naruto looked back to Tayuya and smiled sadly. "Because she's just like me. I can see it in her eyes, even if she won't admit it. She puts up a false front for others because she's tired of being hurt. She's been through so much suffering that it's her way of dealing with it…I'm afraid if I leave her now, she'll have no one to save her from her own loneliness."

Jiraiya was surprised to hear such things from the boy. Honestly he felt guilty that the boy had to go through the childhood he did, as his godfather he should've been the one raising him. _'__I suppose this is my chance for redemption huh, Minato?__'_ The Toad Sannin sighed and closed his eyes. "Well if you feel that strongly, we'll take her with us."

"What? Really?" Naruto asked excited.

Jiraiya chuckled and ruffled Naruto's hair. "Yeah really, but only as long as you promise not to let her distract you from training."

Naruto practically jumped out of his seat with excitement. "I promise Ero-Sennin!"

"Alright, well let's meet up at the outside of town tomorrow morning and we'll set off." The white haired man said.

"Got it! We'll meet you there Ero-Sennin!"

Jiraiya chuckled to himself as he exited the room. _'Minato, it seems like he doesn't even realize it yet but your boy has inherited your taste in women.'_ Jiraiya thought to himself as he heard a commotion on the other side of the door.

"Oi! Where the Hell do you think you're touching me while I was asleep?"

"Sorry Tayuya-chan, you looked cold so I was gonna give you one of my blankets but I slipped and- OWWW! WAIT-AAHH! I didn't mean to-ACK!"

"WHO THE HELL SAID YOU COULD ADD '-CHAN'? YOU PERVERTED FUCKING SHITHEAD, DIE!"

"WAIT! I'M SORRY TAYUYA-CHA- OH GOD!"

Jiraiya laughed out loud hearing the scuffle on the other side of the door. _'If you could only see him now Minato, Kushina.'_ With that last thought he walked on, the smile never leaving his face.

* * *

_**Author's Note:** And that is chapter one. Not too long but chapter two is longer. Not much else to say. Please Review._


	2. Training Begins

**Symphony of Fate**

_Chapter 2: Training Begins_

* * *

**_Author's_ Note:** _I was surprised to have so many hits already. Thank you for you reviews and for taking the time to read this fic. I was gonna wait a while but I decided to go ahead and upload chapter 2. I feel better about this chapter than the first one but I'm still not too fond of it. Maybe it's because I'm the writer or something, I don't know but anyway these first two chapters are supposed to kind of make a prologue and lay out the foundation for the rest of the story. Enjoy._

* * *

Naruto, Tayuya, and Jiraiya walked along a road in the Land of Fire. It had been a week since they left for their training trip. They had begun on their way from the town in the Land of Sound and had continued on through the Land of Fire and were currently walking through dense fog. Jiraiya had sent a messenger toad to Tsunade to relay to her the events following Naruto and Sasuke's battle involving Naruto and Tayuya. She was upset by it at first but decided that if the girl had both Naruto's and Jiraiya's trust then she must be alright.

"Toad-fucker, where the hell are you leading us anyway?" Tayuya asked in annoyance. It had only been a week but they had yet to do any training and had stopped at every hot springs they came across. It was beginning to work her nerves.

"Yeah Ero-sennin I want to start training soon!" Naruto whined as they continued walking.

Jiraiya simply waved them off. "You two stop whining already, geez it's only been a week. We'll begin the training when we reach our destination."

"Which would be?" Tayuya asked with crossed arms.

Jiraiya stopped and pointed ahead of them. They looked to see the fog was clearing and there was a large bridge in front of them. "The Land of Waves." Jiraiya answered as he took a step forward and looked at the bridge. "It's been awhile since I passed through here, I don't remember there being a bridg- GAAH!"

Jiraiya's jaw had dropped as the fog cleared enough for him to see the writing inscribed on the bridge. Realizing where they were Naruto grinned. Tayuya looked confused and followed the sannin's gaze only to be met with a similar reaction when she read the words.

Naruto grinned and adjusted his headband as he read out loud. "The Great Naruto Bridge. Has a nice ring to it don't you think, Tayuya-chan?"

Tayuya mouth opened and closed as she failed to form words and just stared dumbfounded at the bridge before finally finding the words she was looking for. "HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET YOUR OWN FUCKIN' BRIDGE?"

Naruto shrugged. "I guess because my team had a mission here once and saved their village. Didn't know they named the bridge after me though, kinda cool." He said as he looked up at the inscription.

Jiraiya shook his head and muttered under his breath, "Unbelievable." Regaining his composure he addressed the two. "Well Naruto, I assume that if this bridge is named after you then you could surely find us a place to stay while we're here."

Naruto thought for a second and then grinned widely. "I know just the place."

* * *

Inari was having a bad day. His mother, Tsunami, was sick so she had sent him out to buy some groceries. He had a list of what he was supposed to pick up but after he pulled it out of his pocket he dropped it and it blew away in the wind. Eventually he chased it down and made it to the store. As he came out of the store he thought maybe his bad day was over but then on the way home he was jumped. Which lead to the current situation: he was cornered at the shore by two samurai that he recognized as the same men who worked for Gato and attacked his mother, Zori and Waraji. They had chased him out of the sight of the villagers to the shore. And of course, Inari still couldn't swim.

He gritted his teeth as they laughed at him. Zori took a step forward. "What's wrong kid? You look scared." The samurai laughed as he took another step towards the boy, making him almost jump out of his skin.

Inari was trembling in fear though he tried to act brave. "Y-You think you c-can just walk back in here after all you've done?" He said, his voice shaky.

Waraji also began to draw closer to the boy, unsheathing his katana partially to scare the boy. "You sound upset kid, what's wrong? You were so brave back when you're ninja friends were around." The dark skinned samurai said as Inari fell to his knees.

"J-j-just leave me alone! G-Get out of here!"

Zori frowned and stepped towards him again. "Oi, shut up kid. You're being too loud."

"HELP!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, catching the two samurai off guard.

Waraji scowled at the boy and leapt forward. "Damn brat! I'll shut you up!"

Inari closed his eyes as the man leapt towards him. He awaited the imminent pain but it never came. He slowly opened one eye to be met with a surprising sight. Naruto stood in front of him, kunai drawn and used to parry the Waraji's blade.

Waraji and Zori looked at the boy in horror as they recognized him. Zori started to back away. "W-Waraji, it's that brat who beat Zabuza!"

Waraji on the other hand was too paralyzed to move. He busy was looking into the red, feral eyes of the blonde before him. Fear washed over him as he looked into those cold eyes and he was hit with the force of the blonde's killing intent.

Naruto didn't blink as he spoke in a low growl, "Leave him **alone.**"

Zori gulped as he tried to turn and run the other way. He didn't anticipate to be met with the fist of an angry redhead, sending him flying past Naruto and Inari into the water. Waraji looked in behind him to see Tayuya and Jiraiya standing arms crossed glaring at him. The samurai was no fool, he dropped his sword and fell to his knees. "I-I surrender."

Jiraiya frowned as a toad, a little bigger than a man, emerged from the water and regurgitated an unconscious Zori. "What lowlifes, picking on an innocent kid. Disgusting."

Tayuya walked over to the dark skinned samurai who looked up at her curiously. Without a word she reared her foot back and kicked him in the balls, causing the man to cry out in pain and the other males present to wince. He fell forward holding his jewels and crying as Tayuya grabbed his arms and tied them behind his back. "Stupid fucker, picking on a fuckin' kid! Next time why don't you and your fuckin' lover over there pick on someone your own size. Rot in a sack of rat shit, weak-ass prick!" She emphasized her anger by spitting in his eye at the end of her rant.

Jiraiya decided that was enough and had the toad swallow up both of the men. "Take these two to the Konoha Prison. Give this to the guards and they'll permit it." The toad sage said as he gave the toad a scroll. The toad croaked in response then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Naruto helped Inari to his feet and dusted him off. "Hey Inari, you ok?"

Inari smiled and nodded at his blonde friend. "Yeah, I'm fine thanks to you guys. But I can't believe you're back! Where's Sakura and Sasuke? And Kakashi? "

Naruto frowned and looked away. "I'll explain it to you later, at your house."

* * *

"A training trip? That's so cool!" Inari said in excitement as Naruto puffed out his chest proudly. Tayuya rolled her eyes at his display. They were all currently in Inari's house and were sitting in the living room. Naruto was telling Inari about all his adventures since he had left the Land of Waves and the boy was in awe. Tsunami and Tazuna were simply watching the two boys converse contently.

"Then I saved Sasuke's butt from the Gaara and took him down in his giant sand tanuki form!" He said proudly as Inari listened intently.

"So who are your friends here Naruto?" Tsunami asked after Naruto finished his story.

"Oh yeah, this is Ero-sennin." He responded, pointing to the toad sage. Jiraiya sweatdropped and Tazuna and Tsunami raised an eyebrow at the nickname but Naruto continued. "He's kind of a pervert but he's also a really powerful shinobi. We're on a three year training trip and I'm his apprentice now." He declared proudly. The blonde then pointed to Tayuya. "And this is Tayuya-chan, we were enemies on my last mission but she helped me out and we've become friends now… She's kinda got a dirty mouth though."

Tayuya took off one of her shoes and threw it at the blonde, hitting him on the head. He winced as a knot appeared and she looked away with a 'hmph'.

Tazuna then decided to speak. "Ah, that's right where's Sasuke? And Sakura and Kakashi too, aren't they with you?"

Jiraiya and Tayuya looked at each other then back to Naruto who had hung his head. The three non shinobi in the room gave him curious looks.

"Sasuke… he abandoned the village. He's gone off with Orochimaru, the one who attacked our village, to gain power… I tried to stop him but… We fought and he ended up getting away." The blonde jinchuuriki explained with sadness filling his eyes.

Tazuna frowned. "I'm sorry to hear that Naruto. I could tell you two were close, though back then you wouldn't have admitted it."

Naruto chuckled as he remembered Team 7's stay in Tazuna's house. He thought about the tree climbing exercise and his fight with Haku. "Yeah… He's my best friend…"

The mood suddenly became gloomy as Naruto thought about Sasuke. Jiraiya stared at the boy while Inari frowned and Tazuna and Tsunami exchanged worried looks. Tayuya couldn't help but feel partially responsible for the current mood. Even though at the time she was just following orders and never would've dreamed she'd become friends with the Uchiha's best friend.

Naruto surprised everyone by breaking the silence and smiling at Tayuya. "But it's alright. I'll bring Sasuke back one day. And besides, if he hadn't left I wouldn't have had the chance to become friends with Tayuya-chan!"

Tsunami and Tazuna smiled seeing the boy had returned to his cheerful self. Jiraiya gave a small chuckle when he noticed the boy's words had a certain redhead blushing. Inari looked at the two curiously before tapping Naruto's shoulder.

"Naruto-nii, does that mean she's your this?" Inari pointed to his pinky finger.

Now Naruto and Tayuya both blushed wildly. "W-What? No! We're just friends that's all!" Naruto explained frantically.

"Yeah, who the fuck would date this shithead?" Tayuya added for good measure. Naruto sweatdropped at her words.

Jiraiya decided to change the subject to a more serious topic, addressing Tazuna and Tsunami. "Tazuna-san, Tsunami-san, would you be willing to allow us to stay here while I train these two?"

Tazuna glanced at Naruto, who was in a headlock courtesy of Tayuya while Inari watched laughing. "You're welcome here anytime. We're greatly indebted to that kid for all he's done for us. Besides, I haven't seen Inari so happy in a long time."

Tsunami smiled warmly at the sight. "Naruto is a hero in this village, and he's like a big brother to Inari. You all stay as long as you like."

"Thank you." Jiraiya said with a smile before turning to Naruto and Tayuya. "Alright you two, training starts today. Let's go." Naruto cheered and Tayuya smirked as the two followed the white haired sannin.

* * *

Jiraiya led the duo to the beach not far from the house. Inari and Tazuna had also followed to watch while Tsunami was making dinner. "Ok, let's start off with showing me your abilities." The sannin said as he walked past the two.

Tayuya groaned. "You mean you want us to demonstrate all our techniques? That's fuckin' boring!"

Jiraiya chuckled. He was now standing about fifteen yards away on top of the water. "Oh I believe you'll like this. I want you two both to come at me with all you've got. After I've seen enough or beaten you thoroughly we'll stop."

Tayuya was shocked when Naruto immediately charged forward, hands in a cross like seal. Jiraiya sunk into a defensive stance as the blonde approached. "Shadow Clone jutsu!" Naruto yelled as he summoned up more than two hundred clones.

"That's what I like to see!" Jiraiya yelled as he charged the large group of clones. He effortlessly dodged their attacks while landing hits on several causing them to dispel. Eventually however the number advantage kicked in and they surrounded him. The clones then charged in from all sides and Jiraiya leapt into the air to avoid them. The clones looked up to see the toad sannin quickly running through some handseals. "Katon: Goukakyu no jutsu (Fire Release: Grand Fireball jutsu)!" The sannin said as he shot a large fireball at the clones below, taking out most of them.

He landed carefully on the water staring down the remaing fifty or so clones. Then from under the water beneath him, Jiraiya caught sight of a small glowing orb. He was surprised as Naruto jumped out of the water and buried a rasengan into his abdomen. "Not bad gaki." Jiraiya whispered as the sphere connected. "However…"

Naruto was shocked when Jiraiya poofed out of existence. "A shadow clone?" The blonde turned around to see the white haired sannin taking out the rest of his clones with taijutsu. He was about to charge him again when he heard something strange. It sounded like a flute being played. To his surprise Jiraiya froze in place.

The redhead standing behind Naruto's clones had begun playing her flute to cast a genjutsu on the toad sage. "Genjutsu: Arctic Imprisonment!" Tayuya smirked as she saw her genjutsu had taken effect. The genjutsu she had used had made it seem to Jiraiya that his body was frozen solid. The older man cursed under his breath as he tried to break the genjutsu. "Fuck yeah!" She yelled as she charged the sannin and connected with a roundhouse kick to his abdomen, sending him flying towards Naruto.

Naruto grinned and formed a rasengan then prepared to intercept the white haired sannin. "Got you Ero-sennin!" He said with a smirk as he lunged with the rasengan. Jiraiya however expertly dodged by rolling in the air and then ducking under the rasengan. He landed on the water with his hands and spun, delivering a hard kick to the chin on the real Naruto. Naruto's clones dispelled as the boy was sent crashing into the shore. Tayuya gritted her teeth, it was just her and Jiraiya now.

She charged forward as she activated level one of her Curse Mark. Jiraiya was surprised when she charged forward with increased speed and began her attack. The two had a taijutsu showdown as Tayuya threw punches and kicks and Jiraiya caught and deflected them with ease. He was once again surprised however when she progressed to the second level of the Curse Mark. Her hair grew longer and her skin turned a dark chocolaty brown while horns grew on her head. She was actually able to overwhelm him and landed a hard punch to the face that staggered the sannin. She followed up with a spinning back kick that connected with his ribs and sent him flying backwards.

The experienced sage caught himself and began to make several handseals before taking a deep breath. "Katon: Rekaion (Fire Release: Raging Lion)!" He yelled as he exhaled a large amount of fire taking the form of a large lion. Tayuya was surprised as the flaming lion pounced and the flames swallowed her before quickly dissipating after hitting the water. Shakily she stood up to look at the toad sannin. Instantly however, he had sprinted towards her and connected with a series of punches before executing a powerful kick to her abdomen that sent her barreling into the shore as Naruto had.

Satisfied with the test Jiraiya walked over to his two students. Naruto was out cold and Tayuya was trying to stand, having reverted from her Curse Mark transformations back to normal. "Well I believe I've seen enough."

Tayuya slapped Naruto across the face a couple of times to wake him up. "What, where am I? Oh! Did we win?" The blonde asked Tayuya as he started to wake up. Tayuya shook her head and Naruto hung his head in depression.

Jiraiya chuckled at the display and took a seat next to them on the beach. "Now that I've assessed your abilities lets go over what you're training regimen is going to look like for the next few months." The two younger shinobi listened intently. He pointed to Naruto. "Naruto, you've got loads of stamina and guts and that's good, but you're also an idiot and that combination is more likely to get you killed one day then be any help in a real fight. Ninjutsu wise you're not bad, you're taijutsu sucks and I know you're not a genjutsu type but neither am I. We're gonna focus mostly on building up your taijutsu skills and teaching you about strategy." Naruto frowned at the idiot comment but nodded affirmatively.

Jiraiya then turned his attention to the redhead. "Tayuya, you're a genjutsu type for sure, but you're taijutsu is good as well. As for ninjutsu you didn't use any so I'm not sure about that."

Tayuya sighed and hung her head. "I've never been too good at ninjutsu, I mostly stick to genjutsu but against more experienced shinobi my genjutsus aren't strong enough."

Jiraiya nodded. "Well then we'll focus on building up your ninjutsu skill and refining your taijutsu. What style taijutsu is it you use by the way? It resembles a combination of the Arhart Fist and the Cyclops Fist."

"Yeah, I used to spar with fatass when I was with pedo-fucker and he used Arhart Fist. I picked a few things up from him and put it together with what I learned from the Academy in Takigakure."

Jiraiya nodded. "Well it's a very interesting style. It's probably best for offense rather than defense if it's a combination of those two styles. Anyway, we'll work on your taijutsu and ninjutsu. I know you're a genjutsu type but I can't really help you there since I never learned any genjutsu myself." He said the last part sheepishly. "You two meet me here tomorrow morning at sunrise and we'll get started with the serious training."

"Hai Ero-sennin/Ero-sensei!" Naruto and Tayuya said in unison.

Jiraiya tried to yell at them as the two ran off towards town but it was no use. He sighed as he started to head back for the house. _'Those brats have no respect for me at all…'_ He thought to himself as he approached Tazuna's home. He stopped when he heard women giggling and talking about going to the town's hot springs for a bath and a perverted grin crossed his face. _'Research time!'_

* * *

Naruto, Tayuya, and Inari walked the streets of the town. It had been two weeks since Naruto and Tayuya started their training with Jiraiya. One thing was for sure, he didn't go easy on them.

The first half of the day he made them practice their taijutsu skill. They started off with running, he made them run twenty miles to raise their stamina. He then had them do exercises like punching and kicking a log, push-ups, chin-ups, squats, sparring, and crunches. After all of that he created a shadow clone and sparred with both of them, helping Naruto build a solid fighting style and Tayuya refine hers.

After taijutsu training was done he had them work on ninjutsu. For this training they were split up. Naruto had massive reserves but horrible control, so he had Naruto doing exercises to raise his control. Tayuya on the other hand had good control but relatively small reserves, Jiraiya had her doing exercises to increase her reserves. Naruto's exercises were mostly just frustrating but Tayuya's left her completely drained.

Naruto had decided that he needed something to give him an edge on Sasuke next time they fought. Today Jiraiya gave them the day off after they finished their taijutsu training (so that he could go do some 'research') so Naruto and Tayuya decided to stock up on weapons. Inari had been watching them train the past week and tagged along with them to get some medicine for his sickly mother.

Tayuya groaned as they walked the streets. "My fuckin' legs are so sore! That damn toad-fucker… He's gonna fuckin' kill us before this trip is over. Fuck, even the pedo-snake bastard wasn't this cruel!" She complained as they searched for the weapon shop.

Naruto frowned at her foul language and covered Inari's ears. "Easy Tayuya-chan, you shouldn't be using that kind of language around Inari. He's still a kid after all."

"Oh, he'll be fine! He's old enough to hear it as long as he don't repeat it." She said waving it off. Naruto sweatdropped and uncovered Inari's ears. Inari just smiled at the two innocently.

After a while they reached the town's only weapon shop. They went inside and began to look around. Tayuya went ahead and bought some kunai and shuriken with the money Jiraiya had given them. Naruto was busy trying to find a weapon that suited him while Inari was mesmerized by all the weapons and was currently slashing imaginary foes with a katana in the back.

Tayuya decided that she too could benefit from using a weapon so after looking around for a bit she decided to go with a broadsword. The hilt was black with a ruby adorned in the center of it on either side and the blade itself was about 40 inches long. After purchasing her sword and supplies she walked over to Naruto as he picked up a staff. "A staff? Doesn't really suit you shithead." The redhead said as Naruto hung his head in disappointment.

"I just can't decide! There's too much to choose from!" The blonde yelled in frustration as he put the staff back.

Tayuya smirked, amused by the blonde's breakdown. "I honestly don't see you as the katana type, it's just not your style. Then again, you wouldn't have the skill to handle a kusarigama and ranged weapons wouldn't suit your close combat fighting style… Damn, this is hard." She said as she looked at every weapon on the wall before them but couldn't picture the blonde with any of them.

He was too much of a brawler type. He just charged in with his clones and a rasengan in his hand and pulled something out of his ass. Having a weapon almost just didn't fit with him, but she guessed he wanted something to give him an advantage when he fought the Uchiha. Just as they were going to give up and leave the shop, Tayuya saw something out of the corner of her eye.

It was a pair of trench knife like weapons. Chakra blades, like those that Asuma Sarutobi used. She picked them off the wall and examined them. They were perfect for him and suited his close combat style very well. She smiled as she put a hand on the sulking blonde's shoulder. "Shithead, I believe I've found your perfect weapon." She said proudly.

Naruto looked in awe as she displayed the chakra blades. "Chakra Blades? Asuma-sensei uses those too now that I think about it. They're so cool!" He exclaimed as he took the blades and put them on. "These are awesome! Thanks Tayuya-chan!"

Tayuya was blushing fiercely at his words. She still wasn't accustomed to people thanking her. Averting her eyes, she composed herself. "Don't mention it shithead."

"Hey, I just noticed, I've called you Tayuya-chan several times today and you haven't hurt me or yelled at me at all."

"Eh, I figured what the hell. You obviously don't learn through being beaten the shit out of and yelled at so it's a lost cause."

Naruto frowned and looked away scratching the back of his head nervously. "Well if you don't like it I can just call you Tayuya."

"No, it's actually started to grow on me a little bit. I don't mind really so… you don't have to stop…" She said as she blushed even more.

Naruto blushed as well and they both looked away. "Oh well ok then Tayuya-chan… I wouldn't care if you called me Naruto-kun either…"

"…Not a chance shithead…"

"Tayuya-chan!"

"Shithead-kun?"

"…On second thought, just shithead is fine."

"That's what I thought shithead."

* * *

"Paper?" Naruto said as he stared curiously at the small pieces of paper in Jiraiya's hand.

Tayuya sighed. "Not just paper dumbass, Chakra Nature Paper."

Naruto blinked. "Chakra Nature Paper?"

"..."

Tayuya cocked back her fist to punch the blonde when Jiraiya restrained her. "Easy Tayuya, easy. Listen gaki, these are papers for figuring out your chakra affinity." The white haired sage explained as he as he released Tayuya.

Once again Naruto blinked. "Affinity?"

"…"

"…"

"FUCK!" Tayuya lunged at the blonde but was restrained again, this time by one of Jiraiya's shadow clones.

Jiraiya facepalmed. "Don't they teach you anything at the academy these days? Ok, you've seen techniques like the Fireball jutsu I used in the spar and Kakashi's Raikiri? Well moves like that require you to transform the nature of your chakra." The sannin explained.

Naruto was intrigued. "Nature of chakra?"

"Yes. Take the rasengan for example, it is just a pure chakra technique. But to use an attack like the Grand Fireball Jutsu you'd have to mold your chakra into a fire element nature to use the attack. The thing is every person has one affinity, or chakra nature that they're naturally better with. The purpose of these papers is to figure out what your affinity is so we know what kind of jutsu to teach you."

"But wait, so does that mean that you can only use the nature you have an affinity for? Because I've seen Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei use different types of techniques before." Naruto recalled.

"Not precisely. Most people learn to use at least two elements, some people can use three and very rarely four elements, but it takes years to master that many."

"Oh alright. So how can these papers tell us about our chakra affinity?"

"Well they're made to respond to chakra. All you have to do is pump some chakra into one of them and it'll react differently based on your affinity. For example if your affinity is fire," The sannin pumped a small amount of chakra into one of the papers and Naruto watched in awe as it burned into ash. Jiraiya smirked at the boy's reaction while Tayuya watched with a small amount of intrigue. "The paper will turn to ash."

Naruto looked at his master with sparkling eyes. "That's so cool Ero-sennin! I wanna do mine now! Can I? Can I?"

Jiraiya laughed and handed a paper to the beaming blonde. Naruto adopted a serious expression and concentrated on the paper. He focused a small amount of chakra into the paper and was surprised when it instantly split in half. The blonde held up the two pieces of the paper and cheered. "Ero-sennin, what does this mean? What's my affinity?"

Jiraiya smiled softly at the feeling of nostalgia he was experiencing. "You got a wind affinity gaki. Just like another old student of mine." The sannin explained as Naruto leapt for joy. _'Minato, he's your son alright.'_ The older man thought to himself. "Alright, your turn Tayuya."

Tayuya grabbed the paper eagerly and quickly pumped some chakra into it. She smirked when her paper became damp. "Water affinity, fuck yeah!" She yelled as she pumped a fist into the air. The other two present sweatdropped at her actions. Realizing her outburst she blushed and scowled at the two. "What are you two cocksuckers lookin' at? I'm just happy that my affinity kicks the shit outta Shithead's!"

"Hey, wind is definitely cooler than a water affinity!" Naruto yelled in defense.

"Bullshit!" Tayuya countered.

Jiraiya sighed as the two began to argue. _'This is gonna be a long trip.'_ He thought as Naruto struggled to push Tayuya, who was strangling him, off of him. Seeing the sight the old sannin couldn't help but smile. _'I haven't been there for Naruto like I should have Minato, Kushina… But I'll make up for it now.'_ The blonde and the redhead finally stopped their scuffle and were laying sprawled out on the ground laughing. Jiraiya blinked as he watched the two smile at each other, it was short lived however as they both quickly looked away blushing. _'Wow, I think that's the first time I've seen those two really smile.'_ The toad sage thought as he blinked in surprise before bursting out laughing.

The two pupils glared at their master and yelled in unison, "What are you laughing at Ero-sennin/Old Pervert?"

Jiraiya wiped a tear from his eye as his laughter died down. "You two lovebirds of course. I think that was the first time I've ever seen Tayuya without a scowl on her face."

The two teens turned crimson and Tayuya threw a rock at the older man. "As if I'd ever fall in love with a Shithead like him!"

Jiraiya dodged the rock and shunshined to Naruto's side. In the blink of an eye he reached into his pocket and pulled something out and handed it to Naruto. "Make sure to use this when you two do the deed. Better safe than sorry." He whispered in the blonde's ear loud enough for both teens to hear before turning to walk off. "Research time. Later gaki!" In a puff of smoke the man was gone.

Naruto blinked then looked at what the older man had slipped into his hand. His face was beet red as the man's words sunk in and he looked at the object in his hand. Unfortunately, Tayuya was also curious and looked at the object in the blonde's hand. She also blushed when she saw the condom in the older man had given the blonde. The two sat there in awkward silence.

"…"

"…"

"So do you think we should-"

"IN YOUR FUCKING DREAMS PERVERTED SHITHEAD!"

'_I was just gonna ask if we should give it back to Ero-sennin. What's her problem?'_ A bloody, beaten Naruto thought as the irate redhead stormed off.

* * *

Tayuya sighed as she watched the waves crash against the coast from her spot on a rock on the shoreline. The past month had been very eventful for the redhead. Not only had she failed to bring Sasuke Uchiha to Orochimaru's hideout in time but she was also defeated by a stronger woman from Sunagakure. Miraculously she survived having a forest dropped on her and was able to make it to safety without being discovered. Although she had damaged her pride, lost her purpose for living, and would surely be killed by Orochimaru for her failure, she did gain something that day.

The redhead sighed as she thought about how she stumbled upon the unconscious blonde in the Valley of the End. She wasn't sure herself why she hadn't just walked on that day. The normal Tayuya would have left the boy to die there without a second thought. Perhaps she wasn't herself, maybe one of those trees hit her a little too hard on the head. Whatever the reason she had felt that he could be trusted.

She frowned as she stared at the ground. _'Why did I follow that idiot anyway? It's not like me at all.'_ She thought. Though she wouldn't admit it, she had problems trusting people due to her childhood. She knew Orochimaru had been using her the whole time she worked for him but it didn't bother her, she atleast had a reason to live. It gave her a purpose. She looked out at the sea once more as she thought to herself. _'What is my purpose?'_

"Tayuya-chan!" A familiar voice called, snapping her out of her musings. She turned her head to see Naruto walking towards her with a smile on his face.

"What do you want shithead?" She responded coldly.

It didn't faze the blonde as he sat next to her on the rock and looked out at the sea. "You've been out here for a while and it's getting dark. I thought I should come see what's up."

"It's nothing you need to worry about shithead. I'm just thinking about some things."

"Like what?"

"Like none of your damn business!" She snapped at the blonde. She instantly regretted snapping at him, it's not like she liked doing it but it just kind of slipped out.

Naruto frowned in response. "If it's bothering you this much it does concern me." Tayuya gave him a confused look. He smiled warmly at her. "Because you're my friend."

Tayuya felt an unfamiliar warmth spread in her body hearing that. She blushed slightly and looked away from the smiling blonde and after a few seconds of silent thought she sighed in defeat. "Alright, you win. I was thinking about where I'm gonna go from here. What the hell am I gonna do after this training trip is over and all. I've got nowhere to go, no family to return to, I have nothing. I have no purpose." She admitted sadly as she pulled her knees to her chest and buried her face in them.

She was surprised to feel two hands grab her shoulders and shake them, forcing her to look up at the blonde responsible. He had a serious expression, it was uncharacteristic for him yet at the same time it fit him well. "Don't talk like that Tayuya-chan, you're not alone! You've got me and Ero-sennin and Inari and his family too! We're all here for you! After the trip you can come with me to Konoha and join the village. I'm sure Tsunade-baachan won't mind if me and Ero-sennin talk to her! And I don't know about a purpose but I know I fight to protect my friends and for my dream! So don't feel like you have nothing Tayuya-chan!"

Tayuya was taken aback by the blonde's words. She stood up and shoved him to the ground with a scowl. "You don't know me damnit! There's no way I'd be allowed to join your shitty village anyway. I'm a fucking bad guy remember? I worked for Orochimaru, I helped bring your friend to him! I helped kill the Sandaime! So why? Why don't you hate me?" Tayuya demanded as she kneeled down and grabbed Naruto by the collar of his shirt.

She flinched as she stared into his eyes, they were stony and unchanging with resolve. "I know that Tayuya-chan is a good person. Tayuya-chan is my friend, that's all that matters to me." He said kindly.

Tayuya released him from her grasp and stood back up, turning away from the blonde. She stood there for a moment before breaking the silence with a question. "What if your Hokage tells you I can't join your village. What if they decide to lock me up or kill me. What will you do? Will you go against your village for me? If you did you know you may never be able to become Hokage."

Naruto was shocked by her words but quickly collected himself and stood to his feet. "I won't let that happen, I'll make Tsunade-baachan accept you into the village and if anyone else has a problem with that I'll make them see that you're a good person too. I give you my word that I will protect you Tayuya-chan." Tayuya shocked at his words but didn't turn to face him. "And I never go back on my word, that's my nindo, my ninja way!"

A small smile appeared on the redhead's face unbeknownst to the blonde. "Baka," She whispered before she ran off towards Tazuna's house, leaving the confused blonde alone on the beach. The smile was still on her face as she ran and a single thought ran through her mind. _'… I guess I've found a purpose after all.'_

* * *

Tayuya and Inari watched as Naruto prayed a silent prayer at the graves of Zabuza Momochi and Haku, the two missing-nin that Naruto's team had fought on his first trip to the Wave Country. Naruto had made it a point to visit their graves every day since they arrived in Wave two months ago. In a short time Naruto and Tayuya both could feel that Jiraiya's strict conditioning and taijutsu training was already helping them improve by leaps and bounds. Also they had found out their affinities and begun training with their new weapons.

Jiraiya had taught the two the basics of their weapons but told them he couldn't do much more than that since he didn't really use any weapons himself. After struggling with nature transformation Jiraiya revealed that the Kage Bunshin technique has a secret that could help their training progress more quickly. He explained that the clones share experiences gained so by making many clones Naruto could greatly reduce the amount of time it took for him to learn nature transformation. Tayuya was taught the technique by Jiraiya to help her as well but couldn't make more than five clones at a time, much to her irritation.

Using that secret Naruto had found himself progressing rapidly with his nature release training and Jiraiya predicted that he may even be able to use a second element by the end of their trip if he kept it up. Tayuya had also been progressing quickly, having a natural talent for nature transformation. She also had found that her reserves had been increasing steadily over the course of the past two months.

Aside from their own training, Naruto had taught Inari how to mold chakra. He did so upon request from the boy who wanted to be able to protect his mother and grandfather if he had to. Tayuya soon found out and initially lectured Naruto but then started assisting the blonde in teaching the younger boy the basics of ninjutsu as well as how to use kunai and shuriken. They kept it a secret from Jiraiya, there was no telling how he'd react to knowing they'd been sneaking off and teaching a civilian boy how to mold chakra. However, Naruto felt it was alright since it was for a good cause, he could respect the boy wanting to protect what was precious to him.

Also in the past couple of months Inari's mother, Tsunami had become increasingly ill. It started out as a cold but quickly became more serious. She's been bedridden for several days, unable to even get out of bed under her own power. While it didn't seem to be anything life threatening, it still had Inari worried and motivated him to learn as much as he could from Naruto and Tayuya. He wanted to be strong enough to take care of his mother who had done so much for him.

With one final prayer, Naruto rose to his feet and turned to the two accompanying him. He beamed brightly at them. "Alright, let's head to the usual spot." The cheery blonde suggested.

The other two nodded in agreement and they headed for the forest where Naruto had learned to climb trees with chakra on his first trip to Wave. They had been meeting here to train Inari since nobody usually came out there. So far Naruto had taught Inari how to mold chakra and use shuriken and kunai as well as the basic academy jutsu like the kawarimi and henge. Tayuya had helped as well, teaching him the bunshin jutsu and how to break genjutsu. She was surprised to see that the boy seemed to have a natural talent for learning, he was able to pick up everything she and Naruto said and did exactly as he was instructed each time. She was equally surprised to find that Naruto was a good teacher. The two were able to feed off of each other well.

Naruto reached into his pocket and felt around for something before finding what he wanted. "Here it is!" He exclaimed as he pulled out a piece of Chakra Nature Paper.

"Wait a minute shithead, you don't really intend to teach him Nature Transformation jutsu do you? Coz if he has an element other than wind or water we can't help him you know, not to mention we're just now learning it ourselves and he's still a beginner." The redhead inquired.

Naruto waved it off. "I just thought it would be nice to see what element he is so that if he keeps training once we leave he'll know what nature to train."

"When you leave…" Inari whispered low enough that the other two couldn't hear.

Tayuya noticed Inari's expression sadden hearing that the two would be leaving one day. She cursed herself for becoming soft as she ruffled the boy's hair and smiled warmly at him. "Don't worry, we ain't goin nowhere for a while and you know that once we leave shithead's gonna wanna come back to visit you ALL THE TIME." She said in a comforting voice.

Naruto was surprised to hear her trying to comfort the boy and nearly laughed out loud when she gave him a 'Say-Something-Now-or-I'll-Kick-Your-Ass' look. Naruto walked over and put a hand on the younger boy's shoulder. "Let's make the best of the time we have together, alright?" The blonde said with a foxy grin.

And that grin proved to be infectious as Inari smiled back brightly at the blonde. "Yeah! Let's have fun while we still can! I gotta get stronger to protect my village and my family!"

The two shinobi smiled at each other, then at the boy. "That's the spirit! Now let's find out you're affinity!" Naruto yelled as he handed the boy the paper. "Now pour some chakra into that paper and we'll see what your nature is.

Inari nodded and focused on the paper. He closed his eyes and poured chakra into it. His eyes shot open as he felt the paper get hot and begin to burn into ash. Tayuya whistled as the ashes of the paper were blown to the ground by the gentle wind. "Fire affinity huh? Pretty cool."

"Fire? Cool!" Inari exclaimed as he looked over to an equally excited Naruto.

"You have a fire affinity! It's just like Ero-Sennin!" The blonde said as he high-fived his pseudo-younger brother.

Tayuya rolled her eyes at the two boys. _'No wonder they get along so well, Naruto's as immature as a kid himself.'_ The redhead thought to herself as she watched the two boys continue to cheer about fire being Inari's element.

The excitement was short lived however when Naruto stopped in his tracks, his expression becoming serious. A memory from a clone he had left behind at Tazuna's house had returned to him and he quickly looked to Inari. "Inari! The clone I left at your house just dispelled himself, you're mother collapsed!" The blonde explained. Inari's eyes widened and Tayuya frowned. Without another word the three ran for Tazuna's house as fast as their feet would carry them.

* * *

Rain fell steadily down as a large group of mourners gathered around a coffin preparing to bury it. Naruto fought back tears as he looked at the picture of the woman in the coffin. It was the picture of Tsunami, Inari's mother. Jiraiya placed a hand on his shoulder and Tayuya stood by his side squeezing his hand comfortingly. Naruto's attention however, was focused on the small boy weeping beside the casket with his grandfather by his side.

It was only a week ago that Inari's mother collapsed. She had been ill since they arrived in the Wave and it turned out that her illness was serious. She had been bedridden for five days while the doctors in town tried their best to help her. Despite their best efforts Tsunami passed away on the sixth day.

Inari had been taking it very hard. She was all he had left so of course it was devastating to him. He had been thankful to have gotten a chance to say goodbye when she briefly woke up the night before she died.

Naruto was at a loss. He felt terrible for the boy and Tazuna. He wanted to say something to make Inari feel better but he knew there was nothing he could say. He thought back to Sasuke's words in the Valley of the End.

_Flashback_

_Naruto slammed Sasuke into a wall and pinned him so that he couldn't move. He frowned at the raven haired Uchiha. _

"_Sasuke, you don't have to do this." The blonde said desperately._

"_Why are you stopping me?" Sasuke demanded._

"_Because, you're my best friend… you're just like me…"_

_Sasuke began wriggling free of the blonde's grasp as he snapped at him, "We're not the same! You've been alone from the start! You don't know my pain!'_

_Flashback End_

He frowned as those last words echoed in his head. No matter how much it stung, it was true. He didn't know the pain of losing someone so close, he couldn't understand what Sasuke went through and he couldn't understand what Inari is going through. Naruto hadn't experienced the pain of losing someone close to him because he had never had anyone in the first place.

Once the funeral was over Naruto, Tayuya, and Jiraiya headed back to Tazuna's house. Inari and Tazuna had stayed behind to talk with some of the villagers who wished to pay their respects. Naruto sighed as he entered the house followed by Tayuya and Jiraiya. The three removed their shoes and went to their respective rooms to change out of their wet clothes and into some dry ones.

After drying off the all went to the living room. Tayuya sat on the couch while Jiraiya sat in a wooden chair and Naruto leaned against the wall. The three sat in silence for a while before the Naruto broke it, "This sucks! I wanna help Inari but I… I don't know how…" He said sadly.

"Just be yourself gaki, let the kid know you're here for him and that'll be enough," Jiraiya responded thoughtfully.

"In this situation, nothing you can say will make him feel better. His fuckin mom just died, he's not gonna be himself for a while. The best thing you can do is give him time." Tayuya said.

Naruto frowned. He wanted to help but he knew Tayuya was right, nothing he could say would make Inari feel better.

Jiraya sighed, breaking the silence that had again befallen the gloomy trio. "I've been thinking that maybe it's time we change location. We've been here for two months now after all. And with this new development, I think it might be best if we give Inari and Tazuna some space to deal with their loss."

Tayuya nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it's nice here and all but I'm getting pretty tired of the same scenery day in and day out. Moving on with the trip sounds like a good idea."

"Maybe that would be for the best." Naruto agreed. He could imagine it was gonna get pretty gloomy around the house with Tsunami gone and Tazuna and Inari would be able to deal with it better with them gone. He would miss them though, the past two months had made him feel even closer to the family.

"It's settled then. Tomorrow morning we set off." Jiraiya said as he stood up and stretched with a yawn. "Now if you two will excuse me I-"

The toad sannin was cut off by the sound of the front door being flung open. The three shinobi quickly turned to face the direction of the sound. To their surprise, Inari stood in the doorway panting and dripping wet from both the rain and his tears.

"Inari?" Naruto said shocked by the boy's entrance. The brunette ran straight up to the blonde and dropped to his hand and knees in a bow. Naruto looked curiously at the boy bowed before him. "What are you-"

"Please!" The boy pleaded from his position on the ground. Tazuna entered the front door as well panting, most likely from chasing Inari. The boy continued, "Please, train me Onii-san! Make me your apprentice!"

Everyone in the room was shocked by the boy's request. Tazuna was the one to speak up first, "Hold on Inari, what do you think you're ask-"

"Please!" The brunette cried, ignoring his grandfather. He raised his head up to look at Naruto, with determination burning in his eyes. "I want to be able to protect what's precious to me! So please, help me get the strength to protect the ones I love Onii-san!" Inari pleaded as tears fell from his eyes.

Naruto was flabbergasted. He looked to Jiraiya for guidance, but the toad sannin just stared back at him with something in his eyes that Naruto couldn't quite put his finger on. He then looked to Tazuna who frowned and hung his head.

"Inari. If this is the path you wish to take… I won't stop you." Tazuna said with sorrow in his voice. "But you know you don't have to do this."

Naruto looked back to Inari who hung his head and stared at the floor. "I know but… someone once told me that if there's something I love… I should work hard to protect it and fight with all my strength for it! For that reason, I want to be strong!" The small boy said.

Naruto gave one last glance to Tazuna who nodded approvingly. Taking a deep breath he turned his attention to the boy bowing at his feet. "Inari!" The blonde said. The boy's head jolted up and the two locked eyes. Naruto looked into those eyes for a moment searching for something. After a few seconds he smiled sadly and placed a hand on his head. "From today on, you are my apprentice. It's gonna be a tough road ahead, and I'm still learning a lot myself but we'll work hard together to protect what we love!" The blonde said with his signature foxy grin.

Inari stared for a second in shock, partly not expecting the blonde to accept, but soon lit up with a grin of his own that rivaled the blonde jinchuuriki's. Tayuya rolled her eyes as a small smile spread on her face. Jiraiya and Tazuna exchanged skeptical glances before sighing and opting to just go with it.

After all the tension had died down Jiraiya cleared his throat, "Alright, alright. Let's all get some sleep, we're still gonna be leaving tomorrow morning and we'll need to get up early if we wanna get to the next town by tomorrow night."

"Hai!" Naruto and Inari said in unison as the two ran off to their bedrooms for the night. Tayuya sighed and followed slowly behind them leaving Jiraiya and Tazuna alone. Jiraiya sighed in relief and pulled out a bottle of sake.

"You up for a few drinks?"

"After my daughter just died and my grandson decides he's going to be a ninja, what do you think?"

"…"

"…"

"…I'll just leave the bottle here then."

"Thanks."

* * *

_**Author's Note: **And that is chapter 2. After this there is a time skip, I'm not sure yet if I'm going straight to Shippuden or if I'll add an arc between now and Shippuden. Regardless there will be a timeskip now. But this was mainly what I wanted to get in before the time-skip, Naruto forming a friendship with Tayuya and taking on Inari as his apprentice. I have a few surprises in store for this story but it will partly follow canon. Thanks for reading and please review._


	3. Kazekage in Peril

**Symphony of Fate**

_Chapter 3: Kazekage in Peril_

_**Author's Note:** Finally finished another chapter. I'm not gonna make any promises but now that school is out for me I should have more free time to focus on my writing. Also I wanted to thank everyone for their reviews and for taking the time to read this story. It really makes me happy to see so many people putting this story on their alert list and favorites. I was honestly pretty surprised that it's gotten so many hits in the short time it's been here. Anyway sorry for all that, here's another chapter of Sympony of Fate._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters, they all belong to Masashi Kishimoto._

* * *

Tsunade sighed as Shizune brought her the files she had requested. Jiraiya sat in the window of the Hokage's office looking out over the village. It wasn't every day the Toad Sannin paid her a visit, but this was a special occasion. The blonde Hokage cleared her throat and began reading one of the files aloud. "Naruto Uzumaki. Specializes in kage bunshin jutsu and fuinjutsu. Known Chakra Natures: Fuuton and Suiton."

"And he's working on Raiton now." Jiraiya interrupted with a proud look on his face.

Tsunade scribbled something down on the file and continued, "Fuuton, Suiton, and Raiton. Weapon of choice is a pair of Chakra Blades. Known also as the 'Savior of the Wave' and the 'Last Uzumaki.' He is currently a genin though he is probably on par with any chuunin or a low jounin level shinobi."

Jiraiya nodded in affirmation. She then set Naruto's file on the table and went on to the next one. "Tayuya Utawara. Specializes in Flute based genjutsu and taijutsu. Uses both a flute and a broadsword as her primary weapons. Known Chakra Natures: Suiton, Katon, and Doton. Formerly known as 'Tayuya of the North Gate'. She is on the level of a high chuunin or low jounin."

She placed Tayuya's file down and gave Jiraiya a serious look. "And you're sure she can be trusted?"

"We've been through this already, I've had her under surveillance constantly since the trip began. Me and my kage bunshin had eyes on her at all times until we were sure she was on our side. Not to mention she's also given us some very valuable information on Orochimaru and his hideouts. She's genuinely put that part of her life behind her and is reformed, thanks to Naruto. The three of them have become like somewhat of a family." The white haired sannin said with a smile.

Tsunade was still skeptical but decided to trust Jiraiya's judgment. He was a crazy pervert but he was also a good spy and very reliable. Though it still troubled her a bit, she signed the papers to make Tayuya a chuunin of Konohagakure. After signing Tayuya's paper she picked up the last file. "Now, Inari Kitamori. I understand that he's a boy from the Land of Waves that followed Naruto so that he could become a shinobi, correct?"

Jiraiya hopped off the windowsill and walked over to the chair across from Tsunade at her desk, taking a seat. "Yep, he's the gaki's apprentice. Although I did show him some Katon jutsu since it was his affinity and neither Naruto nor Tayuya knew any at the time as well as a few other things. Other than that he's taught completely by Naruto."

Tsunade shivered. The thought of Naruto training someone kind of scared her, the last thing Konoha needed was two hyperactive idiots running around causing trouble. Clearing her throat, she continued, "Also he uses a katana as his main weapon and his affinity is for Katon jutsu. Overall he's at a high genin or maybe even low chuunin level."

Jiraiya yawned and leaned back in his seat as Tsunade pulled out the paperwork necessary to make Inari a genin of Konoha.

"I have no problem instating him as a genin but you also requested that I promote Naruto to chuunin so that he could be able to properly teach him, correct?" Tsunade asked as she made sure her pen would write.

"Yes. Since becoming a genin would mean he'd be assigned a sensei, Naruto requested that he be promoted to chuunin so that he could become Inari's sensei. And on the level he's at now, I can confidently say that Naruto is atleast chuunin level if not low jounin." Jiraiya explained.

Tsunade sighed as she signed her name on the paper to make Inari a genin. "You realize it's completely unorthodox to allow a chuunin to teach a single genin, right? Normally a team would be a four-man cell with three genin and a jounin sensei. Not only that but with making a former enemy shinobi part of our village despite all the risks. I'm pulling a lot of strings for you guys, the council will have my head for this." The blonde sannin said as she signed the other papers necessary to make Naruto a chuunin and put him in a team with Tayuya and Inari. Once she was done she pulled out two headbands from her desk and handed them to Jiraiya.

Jiraiya smiled as he took the headbands and sealed them in a scroll. "We know Tsunade-hime. And we're very grateful. I think you'd be surprised to see how much Naruto has grown in the three years. This trip has really changed him." Tsunade grew a tick mark at the 'Tsunade-hime' comment but shook it off.

"So where exactly are Naruto and the other two?" Tsunade asked curiously.

Jiraiya frowned as he pulled out a note and handed it to the blonde Hokage. "That's the other reason for my visit. Last night Sunagakure was attacked and the Kazekage was kidnapped. I suspect its Akatsuki, Naruto, Tayuya, and Inari are on their way there now. They've asked for assistance from Konoha."

Tsunade banged her fists on her desk, breaking it as she glared at Jiraiya. "What were you thinking, sending them to fight the Akatsuki knowing they're after Naruto?"

Jiraiya smiled as he leaned back in his chair. "Like I said, Naruto's grown a lot over these past three years."

* * *

"Damn it's fuckin hot!"

"Well we are in a desert…"

"What was that smartass?"

"N-Nothing Tayuya-chan!"

"Nii-san do you even know the way to Suna?"

"Of course I do! It's… just… further towards the thing… and there's sand and…"

"…"

"…We're so fuckin lost."

Currently Naruto, Tayuya, and Inari were on their way to Suna to respond to their call for help from Konoha. Along the way however, they had gotten lost. Naruto was horrible with directions but he refused to let that stop him from saving Gaara. So now they wondered clueless through the desert, trying to find Suna as the heat continued to rise.

"Come on guys, I'm sure that if we keep walking we'll run into it eventually," The blonde said trying (and failing) to sound optimistic. He had grown quite a bit over the past three years. Now sixteen he stood a few noticeable inches taller than Tayuya. Besides his height, his muscles had become much more toned from his taijutsu training. He now wore a pair of orange pants and a black and orange jacket to replace his previous orange jumpsuit along with the Shodaime's necklace he received from Tsunade. He also wore a black headband instead of his previous blue one. All in all, it was an improvement from the old orange jumpsuit.

"Damn deserts, too fuckin hot and too much fuckin sand." Tayuya complained as the trio marched on toward what they hoped was the direction of Sunagakure. Tayuya now stood at 160.1cm tall and had developed a nice curvy figure. She had a rather large bust for her size but it wasn't too big and also her hips had also grown a good deal in the past three years while her waist stayed slim, giving her an hourglass figure that most women would love to have. Also, her long red hair now flowed freely to her waist. She wore a tunic similar to the one she wore as one of the sound four only this one was black and she wore wrappings on her torso instead of an undershirt and a white sash across the waist instead of the rope belt normally worn by Orochimaru's followers. Also in the spot where the Yin-Yang symbol of the Sound Four would be was the spiral symbol for Uzushiogakure which was colored white.

"Calm down Tayuya-nee, it's not like this is worst situation Nii-san has gotten us into. Remember the incident in the Land of Beets?" Inari reminded the two. Inari had grown quite a bit himself, now standing at 159.2cm and with a little muscle tone from his training as a shinobi. He wore a longsleeve fishnet shirt underneath a blue shirt robe tied with a black sash and dark pants. Instead of wearing sandals he wore geta and he had his right hand and left ankle taped. He carried a katana which was strapped across his back. His dark hair had grown a bit but he kept it short and a bit messy.

Naruto shivered as he remembered the 'Land of Beets Incident' as it had come to be known. "To be fair, that Daimyo said to make ourselves at home." The blonde jinchuuriki said in defense.

"So you're saying you blow up your fuckin home on a regular basis?" Tayuya asked.

"Well that's nothing compared to what happened in the Land of Mushrooms because of you!"

"That perverted bastard had it coming, he grabbed my ass! I taught that fucker a lesson alright!" The redhead proudly proclaimed as she thought back on the incident.

Inari sweatdropped. "Even if he's a pervert, what you did to him was a little harsh. And he was a very influential Daimyo too." The youngest of the trio said as he remembered the punishment the redhead had inflicted on that poor man. That was the day Inari decided that he would not be making Tayuya angry if he knew what was good for him.

Tayuya grinned wickedly as she remembered the man's screams. "The bastard screamed like a girl when I cut off his-"

"Look! We're almost there!" Naruto shouted as he spotted the village just a little ways off. "We should be able to reach it in less than half an hour if we hurry."

The three then took off towards the village as fast as their legs could carry them.

* * *

After arriving in the village the trio made their way to the Kazekage's mansion. Once there they met Temari and were filled in on the situation.

"So it's Akatsuki after all…" Naruto said in thought. "And there's two of them. I'm not sure if the three of us will be able to take two of them alone." He didn't know many Akatsuki members but he knew that they were not to be taken lightly. "Fighting Itachi Uchiha by himself would take all three of us to stand a chance. And if Itachi is with that shark boy partner of his, there's no way we can win. Do you have any idea who it might've been specifically?"

"We know that the one who fought Gaara used explosive clay. The second one fought Kankuro and left him in critical condition. We suspect from the types of poisons used against Kankuro that the second member is Sasori of the Red Sands." Temari answered.

Tayuya's eyes widened hearing Sasori's name. "Sasori, he was partnered to Snake-fucker way back when. He's a seriously scary guy and on top of that he's next to immortal from what I heard." Tayuya explained as she recalled the stories she heard about Orochimaru's time in Akatsuki from his other henchmen. "I would say that he's probably about as strong as Snake-fucker from what I hear."

"That strong? Damn, well if it comes down to it I'll fight him. As for the other guy, explosions from clay doesn't sound like Itachi's or his partner's work. Still, I'm not sure about going ahead without backup." Naruto said with a frown.

Temari shook her head as she leaned back against the wall behind her. "I'd send some of our Jonin with you but most of our forces are injured or poisoned from the fight with Akatsuk. And the few that we have can't afford to abandon their positions here."

"That's too bad." Naruto looked to Inari with a serious expression. "Inari, be prepared if the situation gets serious. You may even have to use 'that'. Ok?"

Inari blinked in surprise but quickly regained his composure. "Yes!"

Tayuya frowned and tapped Naruto on the shoulder to get his attention. "Are you sure about this Shithead? This is Akatsuki we're talking about after all. They've already gotten the Kazekage, if they get you then-"

Naruto smiled reassuringly and put his hands on her shoulders. "Don't worry Tayuya-chan, they won't get me. I'm too stupid to die remember?"

The redhead let out a small laugh as a response, "Yeah, that's right. Stupid Shithead." Naruto smiled at her once again before turning back to Temari to talk about the two Akatsuki. She frowned, still not sure that it was a good idea. The two had grown close over the past three years and she had finally come to accept him as a friend. He had shown her that it was ok to trust and believe in others and had truly become a special part of her life, though she was reluctant to admit it at first. That's why the thought of losing him to Akatsuki scared her. She had already lost so much in her life and she didn't intend on adding Naruto Uzumaki to that list.

"Tayuya-nee?" Inari tapped her on the shoulder as Naruto and Temari continued to talk about the situation with Gaara.

"Inari, you understand don't you? It's important that we protect Shithead from Akatsuki. He's an idiot who'd probably throw himself on a kunai for a complete stranger, that's why we have to make sure that he's our top priority alright?" Tayuya whispered so that the other two shinobi wouldn't hear.

"Alright." Inari said with worry in his voice. "But what about the Kazekage? Nii-san won't stop if until he either brings him back or avenges him ya know."

"I know. We just have to make sure we can get that dumbass out of there if he tries to do something heroic and stupid." Tayuya said as she crossed her arms.

A mischievous smile crossed Inari's face as he teased the redhead, "But you know the heroic stupid part of Nii-san is also the part you love, right Tayuya-nee?"

The redhead tried to hide her blush with a scowl but was doing a horrible job. "Shut the hell up! Who the fuck could love that moron!" She looked away in an attempt to hide her increasingly red face as she continued, "I just don't want him to be gone is all…"

Inari was shocked for a moment at the bluntness of her words. He smiled happily at his older-sister-figure. "I'm just teasing you Tayuya-nee, I want to protect Nii-san too!"

The two were interrupted by Naruto and Temari walked over to the join the two. Naruto looked between the two and narrowed his eyes in suspicion, "What were you two up to?" The blonde inquired.

"None of your business Shithead, it's between Inari and me!" Tayuya yelled trying to cover up her conversation with the boy.

Naruto shrugged it off, deciding it wasn't important. "Well I think we know how we're gonna find the place the Akatsuki took Gaara."

Temari raised an eyebrow. "How's that?"

Naruto pointed at Inari. "Inari is the sensor of our team. Once he feels someone's chakra, he can track it just as good as one of Kakashi-sensei's ninken."

"But he's never met the Kazekage before Shithead, how can he track his chakra if he's never felt it?" Tayuya asked.

"Good question. Temari-chan, did the Akatsuki take Gaara's gourd when they abducted him?"

"No, actually they didn't. We retrieved it and brought it back to his office, why?" Temari asked confused by the strange question.

"Gaara uses special sand in the gourd that is mixed with his chakra and that of the Shukaku right?"

"So I should be able to track him through the sand in his gourd!" Inari said as he realized Naruto's plan. "Good thinking Nii-san."

"I'll go grab the gourd." Temari said as she scurried off to the Kazekage's office.

Tayuya punched Naruto on the arm playfully. "Not bad Shithead, you're still an idiot but you're a smarter idiot than before!"

Naruto sweatdropped, "Thanks Tayuya-chan."

Tayuya noticed the blonde wasn't his usual cheery self. He hadn't been since he heard the news about Gaara and they parted ways from Jiraiya. She wasn't sure how close him and Gaara were but they were both jinchuurikis and she guessed that was why Naruto was so troubled right now. The only other person who knew the kind of pain he knew was suffering for what's beyond his control, for something sealed inside of him. What bothered her most was that even though she wanted to say something to make him feel better, there wasn't really anything she could say or do other than help him bring Gaara back alive. One thing she had learned about Naruto Uzumaki is that he cherishes his friends and bonds above all else.

Before the redhead could say anything else Temari returned with the gourd followed by an old woman. The woman looked at the three foreign shinobi with suspicious eyes as Temari handed Naruto the gourd. "Here it is. Also, I ran into Chiyo on my way to get the gourd and I've decided to send her to help you guys out." Temari said gesturing to Chiyo.

"You're sending that old hag with us?" Tayuya asked skeptically. Chiyo didn't seem to even acknowledge the redhead's comment. "Isn't she a little too old? We wouldn't want a senior citizen to get hurt or anything."

Temari shook her head and smiled confidently, "Chiyo may be old but she's strong and dependable, not to mention she knows more about Sasori and his fighting-style than anyone. She'd be a great asset."

Naruto proceeded to open Gaara's gourd and pour some of the sand into Inari's hand. "Alright Inari, focus on the chakra in the sand and see if you can track it."

Inari closed his eyes and placed his free hand on top of the sand in his other hand. After a few moments of concentration was able to feel the chakra still flowing through the sand. It was faint but it would be enough. He looked up at Naruto and grinned. "I got it Nii-san. We're all set."

"Great!" Naruto exclaimed as he turned to face the rest of the group. "So we'll set out right away then, Tayuya-chan, Inari, Obaa-chan!"

"Right!" Inari responded while Tayuya and Chiyo exchanged cold stares in silence.

With everything in place, Inari pointed them in the direction of Gaara's chakra signature and the four set off.

* * *

Naruto and company leapt through the trees as they followed Inari's directions. Inari felt Gaara's chakra in the Land of Rivers but it was quickly fading. Tayuya noticed Naruto had become quiet and was ahead of the group keeping his distance from them. She had found out after they left Wave that he was a jinchuuriki but that didn't really faze her. It explained why Orochimaru had warned the Sound Four of him and how he was able to hold his own against Sasuke after he had awakened the second level of his Curse Seal.

Chiyo had been silent the entire time, not trusting Konoha or its allies after the deaths of her son and daughter-in-law by the hands of Konoha's White Fang, Sakumo Hatake. They seemed like decent kids but they were still affiliated with Konoha and because of that she couldn't trust them completely.

"How much farther Inari?" Naruto asked.

Inari formed a handsign and focused on Gaara's chakra. He frowned when he saw that it was still diminishing at a high speed. "It's still pretty far off. We may not make it-"

The entire group stopped as a figure appeared in front of them suddenly. He was wearing a black cloak with red clouds on it, indicating he was a member of Akatsuki. Naruto's eyes changed from a calm blue to an irate red and became slitted as he gritted his teeth. "Itachi Uchiha." The blonde jinchuuriki spat the name.

Inari and Tayuya flinched hearing the man's name. Their opponent was Itachi Uchiha now, things had just become serious. Inari was mesmerized by the man's red eyes. He recognized his eyes as the same as Kakashi's covered eye. "Those eyes, that's the same as Kakashi-san-"

"Don't look at his eyes! He's a genjutsu user, if you look in his eyes then he's already won! Focus on his body and feet, watch his movements and attack based on that!" Naruto instructed.

"Very perceptive Naruto-kun. You've grown since our last encounter. But I'm afraid you'll be coming with me, Kyuubi." Itachi said as he pointed at Naruto.

Chiyo's eyes widened. _'Kyuubi? Don't tell me he's also a jinchuuriki?'_

"Obaa-san! Got any tricks to help us out in this situation?" Tayuya asked as she pulled out her flute.

Chiyo let a confident smile cross her face as she spoke, "It's been awhile since I've fought a Sharingan. Let's see, if he catches you in a genjutsu you need to try to stop the flow of your chakra. If that's impossible then the alternative is having someone inject their chakra into you. Also we may be best off attacking him from behind if he catches one of us in a genjutsu, that would break the genjutsu."

Naruto frowned as he pulled out his two trench-knife-like chakra blades that he had bought back in Wave. "That's fine for the Sharingan but Ero-sennin said his other techniques with his Mangekyou Sharingan are different. He can catch you in a genjutsu that will take you down before you have a chance to react."

"How do we fight against something like that?" Inari asked, trembling as he unsheathed his katana and dropped into a stance.

"Like this!" Naruto yelled as he charged Itachi head on. The others watched in shock as he cut through the man with his chakra blades only for the Uchiha to disappear into a cloud of smoke. Naruto gritted his teeth as he regained his balance and spun around to be met with a Kunai held at his throat.

"Give up, Kyuubi." Itachi said as he pressed the Kunai to the blonde's throat.

Naruto laughed as he brought his hands together in a handsign. "Gotcha!" He yelled as revealed himself to be an exploding kage bunshin.

The real Naruto dropped down from the trees above and smirked at the sight of the explosion. "Don't think we're done yet!" He yelled as he formed a rasengan in one hand and held one of his chakra blades in the other. He charged towards a wounded Itachi, and slashed him with his chakra blade before slamming the orb of chakra into his chest. "Rasengan!"

Itachi was sent flying but, much to Naruto's surprise, his body dispersed into many crows that began to circle Naruto. Naruto's eyes widened in realization. _'Shit! It's a genjutsu!'_ He clapped his hands together and attempted to stop the flow of his chakra.

Slowly the crows flying overhead began to form partially into Itachi, who hovered above observing Naruto. "You've gotten much stronger Naruto-kun. But it isn't enough."

"Fuck you!" Naruto barked back as he strained to halt his chakra flow. Suddenly, he felt a pain on the right side of his face. The skin began peeling away, revealing a dark grey skin beneath it. His hair also began to peel off as it was replaced with dark raven colored locks. _'It's just a genjutsu! Just a genjutsu! Just a genjutsu! Just a gen-' _An eerily laugh stopped his thoughts. It was familiar and he recognized it right away. "Sas…uke…"

The right side of his face had become that of Sasuke in his second level of Curse Seal, with his Sharingan active. He smiled a twisted smile as he addressed the blonde, "Naruto, finally I can kill you and finish the job!" Naruto was shocked as his right hand started trying to choke him. He fought it but it was too strong and eventually it made its way to his neck and began squeezing. "Die dobe!"

Naruto cried out in pain as he tried to remove the hand from his neck to no avail. He then felt his stomach begin to expand and suddenly his jacket burst open as Sakura's head emerged from his stomach, staring at him with hate-filled eyes. "Naruto, you couldn't fulfill your promise. You didn't bring Sasuke back to me Naruto. You lied to me. You're the worst." She said in a venomous tone that made Naruto flinch.

"Sakura-chan I-" He tried to respond but was stopped as a head emerged from his left shoulder next. It was the head of Kakashi, looking at him with a disappointed expression.

"Naruto, you're such a disgrace. You failed Naruto. What a disgrace of a student. You'll surely never become Hokage. What a true failure." Kakashi's head said as it looked at Naruto with those same eyes.

'_Those eyes, they're the same as the villagers… No… no….' _Naruto thought to himself as he felt his will breaking. Another voice then broke his thoughts.

"Naruto Uzumaki, you have it so easy. You always get what you want. You never have to struggle and go through the pain that I do. You're so lucky Naruto." The voice of Gaara spoke as the young Kazekage's eye appeared on his hand.

Naruto felt his will breaking as they continued to berate him. _'Stop… This isn't real… It's just a genjutsu… But… No…'_

"I'll kill you Naruto! I need more power!"

"You broke your promise Naruto!"

"You're nothing but a failure Naruto."

"Naruto, your life is so easy."

"Die Naruto!"

"Naruto!"

"Naruto."

"Naruto Uzumaki."

"NO!" Naruto yelled as the voices kept filling his head. The guilt and disappointment filled him as their words shook his resolve and broke his heart. Then suddenly, everything went black.

"Shithead!"

Naruto blinked as he opened his eyes and found himself standing before Itachi Uchiha along with Tayuya, Inari, and Chiyo. Tayuya and Chiyo had a hold of each of his arms. Inari looked over with a worried expression as Itachi stared emotionless at him. "What happened?" He asked.

"You spaced out, you just suddenly yelled and started screaming in pain. He caught you in a genjutsu but me and the old hag here injected some of our chakra into you." Tayuya explained.

Naruto gritted his teeth. He'd been caught in a genjutsu from the very beginning. That's why he'd seemed to have defeated Itachi so easily, he was seeing what Itachi wanted him to see. "But how did he get me with a genjutsu? I didn't even look in his eyes!"

"For my genjutsu, all I need is just as little as one finger." Itachi explained.

Naruto's eyes widened. _'When he pointed at me earlier! Don't tell me that since then I was caught?'_ He growled in frustration. Itachi Uchiha was a powerful opponent, he'd have to be careful. "Guys, get ready! It's time to attack!"

Itachi quickly made a few handsigns and then brought a hand to his mouth, expelling a large fireball towards the group. "Katon: Gōkakyu no jutsu! (Fire Release: Grand Fireball Jutsu)"

"Inari, Tayuya! Phoenix Formation!" Naruto ordered as he and Inari began making handseals. "Fuuton: Zeteikiatsu! (Wind Release: Absolute Cyclone)" The blonde jinchuuriki yelled as he thrust his hand forward and a tornado of wind rushed towards the ball of fire.

"Katon: Enkadō! (Fire Release: Flame Vortex)" Inari yelled as he finished his handsigns and a violent stream of flames erupted from his mouth.

The flames combined with Naruto's Fuuton technique to create a huge tornado of fire. The flaming torando slammed into Itachi's fireball and engulfed it with ease, then headed straight for the Uchiha himself. Acting quickly, Itachi was able to jump high enough to escape the wind-enhanced flames. To his surprise however, a gentle tune from a flute reached his ears.

Tayuya smirked seeing that she'd caught him in her genjutsu. It made him disoriented and messed up his senses so that he couldn't perceive his surroundings at all. It wasn't a particularly strong genjutsu, but it was enough.

Itachi brought his hands together into a handsign to release the genjutsu but was unable to see the angry blonde speeding towards him with a large rasengan in his hand. "Oodama Rasengan!" Naruto screamed as he slammed the orb into the Uchiha's abdomen, sending him rocketing into the ground and flames below at an incredible speed.

Chiyo watched in amazement at the power of the team. _'Using the combined Fuuton and Katon technique to not only distract him from the redhead's genjutsu but as a means of defense, then attacking while he's impaired by her genjutsu before he can react. A solid strategy.'_ She thought as Naruto landed and the flames died down.

Once the flames died down the four went over to investigate Itachi's body. To their surprise however, they found that the body wasn't that of Itachi Uchiha but of a Suna shinobi.

"What the fuck? Does this mean we didn't' just fight Itachi Uchiha?" Tayuya asked as she looked at the charred corpse of the Itachi-imposter.

"No, that was definitely Itachi. That was definitely the Sharingan he had and those were techniques only Itachi would know." Naruto explained as he thought back on the fight.

"So then how do you explain this shit?"

"Maybe it's some kind of clone jutsu." Inari suggested.

Naruto nodded at the suggestion. "I think that's a good guess. A technique that clones someone perfectly using another person's body. But I don't understand."

"Don't understand what?"

"Well, if Itachi was really after me and was serious, wouldn't he have used Mangekyou Sharingan from the start? He would've surely been able to take us all out if he did. So why didn't he use it?"

"Maybe he couldn't," Tayuya said. "Maybe these clones aren't as strong as the originals."

"Maybe… Anyway we have to keep moving. This was probably an attempt to stall us. Inari, lead the way!"

"Right!" The boy said as he once again focused on Gaara's chakra and the group took off.

* * *

The group stopped as they reached the outside of the Akatsuki hideout. The entrance was blocked by a Five Barrier Seal that prevented them from passing. Naruto's eyes were red and slitted from the Kyuubi's influence as he feared the worst for Gaara on the other side of the barrier.

"Inari, can you still feel Gaara's chakra?" He asked hopefully.

Inari pressed his hands into a seal and tried to search for Gaara's chakra. "It's faint but it's still there, we still have time!"

"Good," Naruto said as he approached the barrier. "A seal of this level is no match for me!" He reached into his pocket to pull out a scroll when all four felt a presence suddenly appear. They turned to see a blue-skinned man wearing an Akatsuki robe with a large sword that was wrapped in bandages rising from the water beside the barrier.

The man smiled at them sinisterly, showing off his shark-like teeth. "Sorry, I'm afraid we're not quite finished in their yet. You'll have to take a number Kyuubi-"

"DON'T FUCK WITH ME!" Naruto yelled as he charged the blue man head on with a rasengan in his hand. His attack connected only for the man to burst into water and reform behind him. "What?"

The man grinned as he placed a hand on Naruto's back. "Suiro no jutsu! (Water Prison Jutsu)" He yelled as an orb of water enveloped Naruto, trapping him inside. The shark-like man laughed as three copies of himself formed from the water and charged the other three shinobi.

"Like fuck!" Tayuya screamed as she focused chakra into her left hand, releasing a seal that stored her broadsword and causing it to appear in her hands. She swung straight through one of the clones and kept running towards the another that was heading for Chiyo. She intercepted the clone and was able to counter one of its sword strikes with one of her own. "Shark Fucker!" She grunted as she struggled to hold back the clone.

Inari dodged a slash from the sword of one of the clones and landed on a rock above the clone. He reached into his weapon pouch and pulled out some shuriken and threw them before making a handsign. "Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! (Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu)" The few shuriken then quickly multiplied into many that bombarded the water-based clone. Inari then began weaving through even more handsigns. "Katon: Endan! (Fire Release: Flame Bullet)" A ball of fire shot from his mouth and expanded to a large size before crashing into the clone and destroying it.

The real Kisame watched them dispatch his clones before creating three more and sending them in as well. He was taken by surprise however when he felt two hands grab his feet and drag him under water, releasing Naruto. Naruto jumped back onto the land and caught his breath as Kisame emerged from the water fighting off two kage bunshin that Naruto had formed to free him.

"I don't have time for you!" The blonde growled as he drew his chakra blades.

"You can't possibly win here Kyuubi!" Kisame yelled as the two charged each other. They both slashed and kicked at one another with both of them dodging and blocking the others attacks. Finally Naruto was able to duck underneath a sword slash and use his chakra blades to sever one of the man's arms, making him drop his sword. Naruto took that opportunity to form a rasengan in one hand and charge the man.

"Rasengan!" He yelled as the spiraling ball connected with Kisame's chest. The swordsman was sent flying into a wall and before he could react Tayuya had charged forward and pierced his chest with her broadsword, killing him.

"Damn fish-fucker. We kicked his ass pretty good." Tayuya boasted as the body of Kisame changed into the corpse of another man, just as Itachi's had.

"That technique again." Inari said with a frown.

"We don't have time for this, come on!" Naruto yelled from his position in front of the barrier with Naruto.

"This kind of seal has to be released by removing the five smaller seals that should be in place close by. It'll take some time." Chiyo said as she examined the barrier.

"Normally yes. But," Naruto said as he pulled out a scroll from his pocket and then bit his finger before writing some runes on the scroll in his blood. "With this technique I can force it open." He made a long series of handsigns before crashing one hand into the barrier and one on the scroll. "Fūinjutsu: Kageki Kaifu! (Sealing Technique: Shadow Key Release Seal)"

The other three shinobi watched in awe as a shadow extended from Naruto's hand and traveled up the barrier to the seal holding it in place. Once the shadow reached the seal, the seal began to glow briefly before it was enveloped in fire and began to burn away. When the seal had completely burned the barrier itself began to crack.

"Be ready we're busting in." Naruto said. "Inari, if things get serious I give you permission to use 'that'." Inari nodded in response. "Here goes!" Naruto pumped a surge of chakra into the rock barrier, shattering it completely. As soon as the wall was busted down the four infiltrated the hideout.

They stopped in their tracks as they saw the two men before them. One of them, with long blonde hair and a strange robotic eye and a clay bird beside him, sat on top of Gaara's lifeless body while the other shorter one with a scorpion-like tail simply stood next to him. They were too late.

Naruto felt his rage building but did nothing to stop it. "Gaara! You-You bastards! He's-"

"He's dead, hmm." Deidara said with a smirk.

"That must be the one Itachi told us about, the loud-mouth Kyuubi jinchuuriki." Sasori said as his tail swished around.

A dark smile crossed Deidara's face as he watched Naruto try to restrain himself from charging them head-on. "Master, this will probably make you mad but let me handle the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki."

Naruto resisted his urge to rush forward and attack. Every cell in his body was crying out for revenge. He wanted to make them pay, he wanted to avenge Gaara.

Sasori looked away from the four and over at Deidara. "You're pushing it Deidara, we're each assigned just one bijuu."

Seeing an opportunity, Inari summoned a large shuriken from a seal on his hand and threw it towards Sasori. To his shock Sasori caught it with his tail and sent it crashing to the floor without even looking at it. "H-How?" Inari asked in shock.

"These aren't your run-of-the-mill faggots, they're Akatsuki." Tayuya said as she stood in a stance, ready for whatever may happen.

"Art is an explosion! A brilliant flash that illuminates everything for a second and is gone in a flash. Let me deal with this brat and show him the power of my art, hmmm." Deidara tried to persuade Sasori.

Sasori shook his head as he angrily responded, "Art is something that is meant to be enjoyed for years after its creation. An eternal beauty that lasts for ages."

"I respect you Master but I disagree, hmmm."

"You little shit, you're trying to piss me off aren't you?"

"I knew you'd get angry, hmmm." Deidara said as he stood up. His clay bird picked Gaara up in its mouth and Deidara jumped on. "My fine art is greater than your little puppet shows. Seeya Master Sasori, hmmm!"

Naruto clenched his fists as Deidara flew out of the cave on his bird. "Hey! Get back here damnit!" Naruto yelled as he chased after the artist.

"Shithead!" Tayuya yelled as he pursued Deidara. She turned to Chiyo and Inari with a conflicted expression.

"Go after him. We'll handle things here." Chiyo assured her as she stared down Sasori.

Tayuya looked at Inari, who gave a reassuring nod. "Be careful!" She told him before turning and going after Naruto and Deidara.

Inari smiled briefly before turning back to Sasori and drawing a kunai. "Chiyo-baasama, you really think we can take him?" He asked, not completely confident in his own skill.

"We'll be fine. Just stay behind me, don't worry." She said as she drew many kunai that were connected through a chakra string and then through them all simultaneously at Sasori, shredding his cloak and revealing his body to be that of a puppet. "That isn't his real body, we'll have to get rid of that puppet to get to him."

"Right!"

Sasori laughed maniacally as his scorpion-like tail swished around. "You can't possibly think that you can beat me, Chiyo-baa? I'll kill you both and add you to my collection!"

Inari took a deep breath as Sasori's wicked laughter continued. _'Nii-san, I may have to use 'that' after all.'_

* * *

Outside the cave, Naruto stood on a giant arch as Deidara circled overhead on his clay bird. Tayuya rushed out of the cave and climbed to the top of the arch alongside Naruto. She took a look at Deidara circling them from above. Naruto growled in frustration as the Akatsuki member looked down at them with an amused smile.

"Get the hell down here and fight me!" Naruto yelled as the Kyuubi's influence continued to take hold of him. Tayuya frowned at him. Every second his self-control was slipping, he couldn't restrain himself much longer.

The redhead grabbed his arm and turned him toward her. "Shithead, calm down! He wants to separate us so they have a better shot at winning. We have to-"

Naruto ripped his arm from her grasp. "Tayuya-chan go help Inari and Obaa-san. I'll handle this guy mysel-"

"Fucking moron!" Tayuya yelled as she punched him, knocking him on his butt. Naruto looked at the furious redhead in shock. "I will NOT let you fuckin risk your ass with that guy alone! You DON'T tell me what to fuckin do and you DON'T get to try to act like a fuckin badass and send me off to watch from the sidelines while you get killed! Idiot!"

Tayuya's sudden outburst shocked Naruto. He felt a strange emotion swelling up in his chest that he couldn't explain. _'Is this what it feels like to know someone's worried about you?'_ He wondered as he looked into the angry, yet worried, eyes of Tayuya. A smile crossed his face as he stood up. "Thanks Tayuya-chan, I needed that." He said thoughtfully, causing a small smile and faint blush to appear on the redhead's face.

"Sh-Shut up Shithead! You were just being an ass and it was pissin me off." She said while trying to hide her blush.

Deidara looked down at the two younger shinobi with a frown. "Looks like the redhead calmed the Kyuubi jinchuuriki down, hmmm. Guess it's time to make my move, hmmm." The artistic Akatsuki said as he had his bird fly him away from the two shinobi.

The two watched as the bird broke from its flight pattern and flew away from them. "He's leaving! Let's go Tayuya-chan!" Naruto yelled as he began pursuing the blonde-haired Akatsuki.

"Hell yeah!" Tayuya agreed as she followed closely behind.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **I originally planned to make this longer but I didn't wanna put the fights with Sasori and Deidara in the same chapter that they first get to Suna. It seemed like it was too fast for me. Anyway please review if you don't mind taking the time to do so, I'd like to hear your opinions of the story and the chapter as well as Naruto and company after their trip. Also I'd like to say that I'm going to make Naruto stronger and more calculating than he is in canon in this story. Inari is also going to play a big role in things too come (not too big but I don't plan to make him a random background character that never fights and is only there to motivate Naruto and Tayuya). Hope you enjoyed the chapter, now time for me to start the next one. _

**_Character Bios:_**

**_Naruto Uzumaki:_**

_Bio: Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, student of Kakashi Hatake, and apprentice of Jiraiya of the Sannin. Naruto was ignored and scorned by the village from a young age because of Kyuubi being sealed inside of him. He later became a genin under the guidance of Kakashi Hatake along with Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno. He developed a close relationship with his team that was tested when Sasuke defected from the village to follow Orochimaru. After failing to bring Sasuke back to Konohagakure he was found by Tayuya, one of Orochimaru's henchmen, who took him to a hospital to get medical treatment. After recovering he went on a three year training trip with Jiraiya and Tayuya during which he made Inari Kitamori his apprentice._

_Age: 16_

_Stats: _

_Ninjutsu: 4.5_  
_Taijutsu: 4_  
_Genjutsu: 2_  
_Intelligence: 3.5_  
_Strength: 3.5_  
_Speed: 4_  
_Stamina: 5_  
_Hand Seals: 2_  
**_Total: 28.5_**

_**Tayuya Utawara:**_

_Bio: Born in a small village on the border of the Land of Earth and the Land of Waterfalls to an Iwagakure nuke-nin and a Takigakure medic-nin. Her father was killed when she was baby and her mother died of illness when she was seven. After losing her mother she made the journey to Takigakure where she became a genin. Once she became a genin she spent one more year in the village before Orochimaru appeared to her while on a mission one day and acknowledged her skill as being beyond that of the average Takigakure shinobi. He offered her a place by his side and promised to give her the power to conquer her loneliness. She accepted and began working her way through the ranks, quickly becoming one of the Sound Four. After a failed mission to deliver Sasuke Uchiha to Orochimaru's lair, she defected knowing the price for failure was death. She helped an injured Naruto Uzumaki who offered for her to accompany him on a training trip with him and Jiraiya of the Sannin. She accepted and went on the three year trip, growing closer to the blonde and the perverted sage as well as Naruto's apprentice, Inari._

_Age: 17_

_Stats:_

_Ninjutsu: 3.5_  
_Taijutsu: 3.5_  
_Genjutsu: 5_  
_Intelligence: 3.5_  
_Strength: 2_  
_Speed: 3_  
_Stamina: 3.5_  
_Hand Seals: 4_  
**_Total: 28_**

_**Inari Kitamori:**  
_

_****Bio: Inari was born and raised in the Land of Waves. His mother, Tsunami, and his Grandfather, Tazuna, raised Inari themselves as his father died before he was born. Inari was initially weak and afraid to stand up for himself until he met Kaiza. Kaiza was a fisherman that had come to the Wave seeking new opportunity and he saved Inari from drowning. He taught Inari that you should fight for what you believe in and always protect what is precious to you. However when Gato came to take over the Wave and executed Kaiza publically, Inari was traumatized and quit believing in Kaiza's words. It wasn't until Naruto Uzumaki along with his team came to the Wave to stop Gato and his goons that Inari remembered Kaiza's words and stood up for himself again. After Naruto left he continued to work hard at doing his best for the village but his mother soon became ill. Tsunami battled her illness until Naruto, Jiraiya, and Tayuya arrive at their house hoping to stay for awhile while they train. Naruto and Tayuya teach Inari to mould chakra and discover that he has a natural talent for it, surprising both of them. His mother soon succumbed to her illness and died, causing Inari to once again question everything. But this time he decided he wouldn't lose everything, he became Naruto's apprentice and left to follow him down the path of the shinobi, hoping to protect all that was dear to him._

_Age: 13_

_Stats:_

_Ninjutsu: 3_  
_Taijutsu: 2.5_  
_Genjutsu: 2_  
_Intelligence: 3.5_  
_Strength: 2.5_  
_Speed: 3_  
_Stamina: 2.5_  
_Hand Seals: 3_  
**_Total: 22_**


	4. Way of the Shinobi

**Symphony of Fate**

_Chapter 4: Way of the Shinobi_

_**Author's Note: **I got this chapter done pretty fast. I wrote part of it last night and since I hurt my ankle I had nothing better to do all day then write so that's why I'm updating so fast. I liked writing the fight scene here even though I kinda felt like the part right after it with Naruto and Deidara fell kinda flat but whatever. Well here's chapter four, enjoy!  
_

___Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters, they all belong to Masashi Kishimoto_

* * *

"There, all done." Sakura Haruno said as she finished removing the last of the poison from Kankurou's body. "I've taken the poison directly out of his system and that antidote I made was able to successfully neutralize the paralysis. He just needs to rest for a while and he'll be fine." She instructed the medics that had gathered to watch her work. She wiped the sweat from her brow and walked over to the silver-haired man sitting in a chair outside the room. She and Kakashi had been summoned to the Hokage's office the day before and filled in on the situation in Sunagakure. Tsunade sent her and Kakashi on a mission to back up Naruto's team, who had already went ahead since they were closer. Once they arrived however, they found that a great deal of Suna's forces were injured and the medics weren't skilled enough to treat them very well.

So Kakashi sat and waited for Sakura to finish up before they took off to help Naruto's group. He had intended on just leaving Sakura to treat the wounded and going on his own but she shot that idea down, wanting them to both meet up with Naruto together. One thing he was sure of, her training with Tsunade definitely made her more stubborn.

"You ready Sakura?" Kakashi asked as he stood up from his chair.

The pinkette nodded, a look of determination on her face. "Let's go help Naruto!" She said as she slipped her gloves on.

Temari entered the room with one of Gaara's robes and handed it to Kakashi. "Will this be enough to help you track them?" The blonde kunoichi asked.

Kakashi responded with one of his eye-smiles. "This will be perfect. Let's just hope we make it on time." The Copy Ninja said as he formed a few handseals and bit his thumb before slamming his hand to the ground. In a poof of smoke a small dog appeared before them.

"Kakashi? What do you need me to track now?" The dog asked as Kakashi knelt down and held out Gaara's robes to the dog.

"Pakkun, I need you to find Gaara. He's been abducted." Kakashi explained as Temari and Sakura nodded.

"Abducted? I'm on it." Pakkun sniffed the robes for a bit then stepped back and sniffed the air. "I smell him, his scent goes towards the Land of Rivers."

Kakashi nodded and looked at Sakura, "Sakura, let's move out."

"Right!" The pinkette responded. The three then headed for the door leaving Temari alone in the room.

'_Gaara, hang in there.'_ The blonde girl thought as she looked out the window. _'You're friends are on the way.'_

* * *

Inari and Chiyo dropped into stances as they prepared for their attack on Sasori. Inari glanced at Chiyo before looking back to Sasori. His real body was inside the puppet that stood before them and they would have to destroy the puppet to get to him. But getting to him was going to be the hard part, Sasori was a master puppeteer and likely had many deadly traps waiting for them should they decide to make a move. Inari gulped as Sasori swished his tail around menacingly.

Chiyo noticed Inari's unrest. "Don't worry Inari, we can handle him together." She said as she studied the puppet Sasori was hiding inside of.

"You know about Sasori's fighting style right? So we have an advantage there." Inari said, keeping his eyes on Sasori.

"That puppet he's using is his favorite one, Hiruko. Puppeteers are generally weak in close combat so that puppet is made to protect the puppeteer as well as function as a weapon."

"A-Amazing. So he made his weakness a strength. But since you know about that puppet we can defeat it right?" Inari asked hopefully.

Chiyo narrowed her eyes as she looked at the puppet. "I'm afraid he's made some modifications to it, like that shell on its back that probably makes it even more sturdy. And I've never seen that left arm on it. Besides those he probably has all his other traps upgraded to the max too. We'll have to be careful."

"That's pretty terrifying but all we gotta do is smash it right?" Chiyo looked at Inari curiously. All of his doubt had seemingly been washed away as he now had an eager look on his face. "I'll smash it and reveal his real body! Watch me!"

Chiyo was surprised at how quickly he'd changed from scared to eager. She turned her attention back Sasori, who was waiting for them to make a move. "Inari, you'll have to watch out for his traps. Just one small scratch can be fatal. You'll need to be extremely agile and quick and to know the ins and outs of each of his traps."

"I don't have anywhere near as much experience or know about any of the traps… but I'll do the best I can!" He said with resolve.

Chiyo smiled as she removed her hat. "I'm not useless you know, we'll take it down together. I have a plan."

"Chiyo-baa, I hate being kept waiting. Are you ready yet?" Sasori called as the two discussed their plan.

Inari smiled confidently. "Got it." He said giving Chiyo a thumbs up. He then turned and faced Sasori with a serious expression.

"A brat like you thinks you can beat me? What a laugh!" Sasori said as his puppet opened its mouth and began shooting needles at the duo.

Inari and Chiyo bolted towards the puppet, dodging the poisonous needles with expert reflexes. Inari pressed forward and waited for an opening, then jumped up to the roof of the cave and used his chakra to stick his feet to the roof. He then began making a quick series of handseals. "Katon: Dai Enkadō! (Fire Release: Giant Flame Vortex)" He yelled as flames erupted from his mouth like a flamethrower, showering down on Sasori's puppet Hiruko.

The distraction caused Sasori to stop shooting the needles from his mouth and provided them with an opening. Inari jumped down towards the spot where Sasori would be but, to his horror, when the flames cleared the puppet was still intact.

Unable to stop his descent he continued to fall towards the puppet. "Big mistake brat!" Sasori yelled as he impaled Inari with his scorpion-like tail. The tail pierced his chest and suspended him several feet from the ground, a look of disbelief on his face. His blood poured from the wound as Sasori laughed wickedly.

Chiyo watched in frozed in place and stared at the scene in shock. She had been to slow in connecting the chakra threads to Inari when he was descending and was unable to pull him away in time.

"Now what will you do Chiyo-baa? It's just the two of us now!" Sasori said as he laughed wickedly and slung the Inari's corpse into the wall beside him. To his surprise, rather than a satisfying smack he heard a familiar poof. "What-" The puppet master was cut off by a spiraling ball of chakra being slammed into the shell of the puppet from above.

"Rasengan!" Inari yelled as the orb exploded, sending puppet parts everywhere. He landed next to the remains of the puppet with a confident smirk on his face.

Chiyo smiled seeing that their plan worked after all. They had intended to use the chakra strings to get Inari in close enough to smash the puppet but she was surprised when Inari severed the string and leapt to the ceiling to perform a Katon jutsu. _'He knew the puppet was fireproof so he used the jutsu as a distraction to cover up his Kage Bunshin technique, then he let the bunshin distract Sasori so he could catch him off guard and destroy Hiruko. Reckless, but not bad at all.'_ The elder kunoichi thought as she looked upon the remains of Hiruko.

"I told you I'd smash it Chiyo-baasama!" Inari said with a grin. He was surprised however, when one of the pieces of Hiruko covered in a black cloth jumped back. "Is that?"

Chiyo' eyes widened as the Sasori removed the coak, revealing himself to be a young man with red hair. "Sasori, you haven't aged a day!" She said in shock.

"So you controlled him using chakra strings to dodge my attacks and then followed up with a clever little trick to destroy my Hiruko. Not bad Chiyo-baa." Sasori said as he looked at his grandmother. "As expected from the one who taught me all about puppets."

Chiyo and Inari watched as he pulled out a scroll and began to unravel it. "Inari, be ready. I'm not sure what his next trick will be."

"Right!" Inari responded, drawing his katana from the strap on his back.

Sasori smiled as he unraveled the scroll. "I haven't used this puppet in so long, it was such a pain killing this person to get them into my collection but," He pressed a hand to the scroll and in a puff of smoke a new puppet appeared. This one was shaped like a man with black hair and weaing a black robe. "It was well worth it." The redheaded Akatsuki said with a smile.

Chiyo was shocked by the puppet before her. "Th-That's…"

"What's wrong?" Inari asked, confused by her reaction.

She frowned as she narrowed her eyes at her grandson. "That's the Sandaime Kazekage. The strongest Kazekage we've had. He went missing over ten years ago… This is unreal."

Inari took a breath and focused chakra into his katana, giving it a blue glow. "Don't worry Chiyo-baa. We'll take him down!" He said with confidence.

Chiyo blinked in surprise before a smile appeared on her face. "Yeah, you're right." She said while pulling out a scroll of her own. "Sasori, involving yourself in the murder of three Kazekage is unforgivable."

"Three?" Inari asked in shock.

Chiyo nodded as she continued, "He assisted Orochimaru with the yondaime, and then there's Gaara, and now the Sandaime."

"Hey now I didn't help with the Yondaime. That was all Orochimaru and my subordinates. Although Orochimaru and I were partners in Akatsuki for quite some time." Sasori said in response.

Inari tensed up. That name, Orochimaru. The one who caused Sasuke to abandon Naruto and Sakura. The one who made Naruto hurt so much and corrupted Sasuke. He'd never forgive that man. "You know about Orochimaru?" Inari asked in a low voice. Sasori said nothing. "Answer me!" The brunette yelled losing his composure.

Sasori kept the same expression on his face as he taunted the two, "Come." He said as he sent his puppet flying towards them with several blades protruding from its arm.

Inari moved to intercept it, channeling more chakra into his katana. "Mikazukishiki: Natsuhana! (Crescent Moon Style: Summer Flower)" He said as he swung his sword at incredible speeds, performing multiple quick slashes on the blades of the puppet in an attempt to counter them. Inari's katana clashed with the blades, knocking the Sandaime puppet back.

Sasori was impressed by the display. "Mikazukishiki, huh? It's been awhile since I fought a practitioner of that style of kenjutsu. Interesting." He said as he pulled a string and his puppet's arm opened up a compartment that summoned a large amount of extendable puppet arms that rocketed towards Inari.

Inari closed his eyes and focused his chakra as the large mass of puppet arms raced towards him. "Mikazukishiki: Mōretsuna Raion! (Crescent Moon Style: Furious Lion)" Inari yelled as he slashed the arms with his chakra enhanced katana at speed faster than the human eye can track. He was able to hold his own at first but quickly became tired from the drain on his chakra and he collapsed. Once he fell Sasori brought all the arms down on him, intending to pierce him.

Chiyo however had been able to attach chakra strings to him at the last second and moved his body to avoid the attack. Inari opened his eyes to see that he had barely avoided being pierced by any of the arms.

Sasori frowned at the sight of the boy avoiding another of his traps. "Not bad Chiyo-baa, but how will you handle this." From one of the arms a chamber opened and sprayed a cloud of poisonous gas into the air where Inari was pinned.

'_Poison gas!'_ Chiyo thought as she yanked the chakra strings in an attempt to free Inari but to her surprise the strings wouldn't budge. "What?"

Sasori smirked upon seeing his grandma's worried expression. "I've tied him up using kunai I launched from the arms of the puppet. There's no escape for him now." He said with a laugh.

"Inari! Hang in there, hold your breath!" Chiyo instructed as she desperately tried to find a way out of the situation. No matter how hard she thought, there wasn't any good way to get him out of the gas alive.

Inari meanwhile was bound by the rope attached to some kunai that had ensnared him as the gas continued to fill the air around him. He had been holding his breath but he was at his limit now. _'Looks like I'll have to use that after all Nii-san.'_ He thought as wriggled one hand out of the rope and used it to loosen his shirt-robe, revealing a seal on the right side of his chest. It was the same as the one on Naruto's stomach minus the runes around it, a black spiral. He bit his thumb as the seal began to glow a bright orange-red color and more spirals spread from the seal, covering his body. The spirals grew all over his face and right arm while he made a few handseals and then cried out, "Kuchiyose no jutsu! (Summoning Jutsu)"

There was a puff of smoke and, much to Sasori's confusion, a new voice was heard, "What kind of mess are you in now kid?" Asked the voice from inside the cloud of purple gas that obstructed the view from Chiyo and Sasori.

Seconds later the gas dissipated to reveal Inari, covered in black spiral markings, standing atop a bus-sized Komodo Dragon-like lizard. Inari looked down at Sasori with determination burning in his eyes. "Now we start our counter-attack." He said as he drew his katana and discarded his shirt, leaving only his long-sleeved mesh shirt and revealing more spiral markings all over his body.

"What kind of summon is that? And what are those markings on your body?" Chiyo asked as she marveled at the lizard summon.

To her surprise the monitor lizard summon spoke for itself. "I'm Ryuutaro, of the clan of Shinobi Lizards. Inari-dono is our clan's summoner."

Inari kept his eyes locked on Sasori as he spoke. "And this is the power of the Curse Seal of Whirlpools. I haven't gotten used to using it completely but it's necessary to win here." He said as the marks continued to spread on his body.

Sasori narrowed his eyes at the boy. "A Curse Seal, did you obtain that power from Orochimaru?" He asked, curious as to what connections the boy may have to the Snake Sannin.

"No," Inari said as he touched the seal gently with his right hand, "Jiraiya-sama and Nii-san infiltrated one of Orochimaru's bases and managed to find out a great deal about his Curse Seals. Nii-san wanted to use what he had learned of Orochimaru's jutsu and what he had learned about Fuinjutsu to create a new Curse Seal that would help me defend myself better. This seal is the result. With it I can get an increase in speed, power, and strength. Also thanks to Nii-san using a bit of the Kyuubi's chakra in the seal I my body will heal itself quicker when using this power. We found that there is a drawback however, if I use it too much it puts a strain on my body and my chakra. On top of that if I were to go into Level Two of the seal, the immense strain on my body would speed up the process to a rapid rate and could kill me. For this reason, Nii-san forbade me to use this power unless the situation was dire." He explained.

"Enough talk." Sasori said as he prepared to attack with the Sandaime Puppet. The puppet prepared to use the same arm technique as before.

Chiyo used the scrolls she had pulled out earlier and summoned two puppets to her side; a reheaded man puppet and a black-haired woman puppet. "I won't let you do as you please Sasori."

Sasori smiled as he looked at the puppets the woman had summoned. "It's been a while since I've seen those two. You can't possibly hope to beat me with them? I know all their secrets."

"The Father and The Mother. The first puppets you created." Chiyo said as the puppets each placed a hand together and pulled them away slowly, revealing a wire trap.

'_Wire?'_ Inari thought as he watched the puppets rush toward the arm attack of the Kazekage puppet. They moved about perfectly in sync, slicing the arms and shredding them into pieces with the wire as they got closer to the Kazekage puppet.

Sasori stopped the arm attack as they got close and readied the Kazekage Puppet's blades on it's right arm and a saw-like blade emerged from its left arm and began spinning. However, the Mother and Father Puppets also used their bladed weapons to counter the Kazekage Puppet's. The puppets clashed in a lightning fast duel of steel as their weapons collided and shredded. By the end of it they had all shredded each other's weapons to an unusable state.

Sasori let a confident smile cross his face. "Impressive… However," The Sandaime Puppet's mouth opened as Sasori made a handseal. To Chiyo's horror, a black sand-like substance began to flow out of the puppet's mouth and float around in the air. "I suppose I should start getting serious."

A look of horror and disgust appeared on Chiyo's face as the material poured from the puppet's mouth. "That's the most feared weapon in the history of Sunagakure. The Iron Sand." She said as she watched the sand float around in the air around Sasori.

Inari remained unshaken, staring at Sasori with a serious expression. "Sasori! I'm going to defeat you, and when I do you're going to tell me everything you know about Orochimaru!" He yelled as he jumped off of his lizard summon and charged the redheaded puppeteer at an incredible speed. He prepared to slice through Sasori's puppet with his sword. "Mikazukishiki: Kenranshi! (Crescent Moon Style: Brilliant Death)"

"Inari don't get too close to that Iron Sand!" Chiyo yelled as the boy attacked the puppet with a violent frenzy of quick slashes from his chakra-imbued sword. But to Inari's surprise, the Iron Sand quickly moved to block each of his blows. Even with the chakra in his blade it was as though he was striking a solid wall of steel. He retreated back to Chiyo's side along with Ryuutaro.

"That sand, it's like hitting solid steel!" The brunette said in frustration as he watched Sasori form something with the Iron Sand.

"The Sandaime created the Iron Sand after studying the Shukaku's control over sand. He infused the Iron Sand with his magnetic chakra and was able to manipulate it in a similar way." Chiyo explained.

"But wait, how can a puppet have chakra to begin with?"

"That's a human puppet. It was created from a human body and still has the chakra of the individual it was made from, in this case the Sandaime Kazekage."

"A puppet that uses chakra… Incredible," Inari said in amazement. As he marveled at the Iron Sand, it began to separate into many little clumps. Chiyo's eyes widened in shock as she recognized the technique.

"Satetsu Shigure. (Iron Sand Drizzle)" Sasori said as the clumps of sand rushed toward Inari and Chiyo like bullets. Acting quickly, Chiyo was able to have the Mother puppet shield Inari with a chakra shield while the Father puppet shielded her. "You've upgraded them since back when I played with them I see. Even adding a chakra shield. Impressive, Chiyo-baa." He said with the same stoic expression.

Chiyo was panting from the strain of the battle finally taking its toll on her. She looked over at Inari, who also looked a bit winded. "Inari, you should run. This is beyond anything I expected. I'll handle things from her but you should-"

"No," He said in a low voice as he stood to his feet. "I don't run away and I don't back down. Even if the situation is bad, I'll stay hopeful and keep moving forward because that is my Way of the Shinobi. That is what my master taught me!" He said with determination as he rushed towards Sasori once more, this time leaving his katana behind. "Ryuutaro!"

"Right!" The lizard responded as it charged along with Inari.

Sasori smiled and manipulated the Iron Sand into one spot, creating a large hammer. "Satetsu Senadzuchi. (Iron Sand Warhammer)" The Iron Sand hammer then smashed down towards Inari.

Inari quickly sidestepped and then used the hammer as a stepping stone, once in the air he quickly went through some handseals. "Katon: Karyū Endan! (Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet)" He yelled as he shot forth a large dragon shaped flame from his mouth, aiming for Sasori.

Moving quickly, Sasori used the Iron Sand to stop the flames from reaching him then turned the sand into curved blades. "Satetsu Hitofuki. (Iron Sand Gust)" Sasori said as the blades of sand lashed out at Inari.

Taking a page from his master's handbook, Inari made a kage bunshin and had it throw him out of the way of the blades while it took the hit. Sasori frowned at the boy's evasiveness. Turning his attention to large lizard charging at his puppet, Sasori had the puppet dodge a claw strike from the lizard. "You're a nuisance." He said as he had the Iron Sand focus into a form that was like a long whip of thorns. "Satetsu Kei (Iron Sand Whip)"

The whip lashed out as Ryuutaro continued to attempt to sink his claws into the puppet. It wrapped around him and tore at his tough flesh, shredding it and infecting him with poison. "Sorry Inari-dono." The lizard summon said before dispelling.

Chiyo watched the display helplessly as she tried to make the Father Puppet move to no avail. Sasori uttered a small laugh at her struggles. "You should know that you can't block this sand, you can only dodge it. You're puppet is useless once the Iron Sand gets inside it." He said as Chiyo narrowed her eyes.

Inari landed next to her panting from exhaustion. "Chiyo-baasama, if your puppets are useless then use me! I'll become your puppet!" Inari said with resolve that shocked the Sunagakure elder. Sasori began forming a conical shape and a large rectangular shape out of the Iron Sand as he prepared his next attack.

Chiyo glanced at Inari. He was tired and beaten but he had yet to be cut by any of Sasori's poisoned weapons. "Are you sure you're up for it?" She asked.

He gave her a grin that rivaled that of his Nii-san's. "I told you already, I never back down. I'll fight to the very end."

She attached chakra strings to the boy with a smile. "We'll have to be careful, that Iron Sand is dangerous but if we can just destroy the puppet we'll be able to end this."

"Leave it to me, Chiyo-baasama!" Inari said as he charged forward. _'I've been using the Curse Mark for a while now… I just gotta smash that puppet and we can win.'_ He thought as Sasori sent the conical shape toward him.

Chiyo was able to maneuver him so that he ducked under the shape and it hit the wall behind her, busting through part of the cave. Inari pressed forward towards Sasori, hoping to get a shot on the Sandaime Puppet.

"You won't beat me like this." Sasori said calmly as he sent the rectangular shape barreling towards Inari.

With the chakra strings, Chiyo made Inari jump back to dodge the shape then run up it and jump off the top. He focused chakra to his feet and used them to stick to the roof of the cave then began running in the direction of the puppet. Sasori countered by sending both shapes toward him but Chiyo yanked Inari off the roof at the last minute and the shapes only succeeded in taking out a large part of the roof, opening up the cave to sunlight.

Changing tactics, Sasori split the cone into many needle shapes and sent them flying at Inari. Inari had to stop running as Chiyo helped him avoid the needles. Once all the needles had missed Sasori split the rectangle into four squares and sent them towards the boy. Inari was able to avoid the shapes but each one had him backpedalling away from Sasori and back towards where he started.

'_I'm not making any progress!'_ He thought to himself as he narrowly avoided another block. Sasori once again attacked him with the needles, this time sending them all in at once rather than one on one. Inari avoided the dangerous barrage but at the last minute was grazed by one of the needles right on the ankle. "Shit!"

"Inari!" Chiyo yelled in worry as the boy dropped to a knee. _'Don't tell me he poisoned the Iron Sand too?'_

Sasori smirked seeing he had finally hit the boy. "It's all over now. Satetsu Kahou. (Iron Sand World Order)" The redheaded Akatsuki said as all the Iron Sand began to gather together in a large cloud overhead. Suddenly, the cloud of Iron Sand started taking on a shape similar to branches or tree roots that were all connected and begun to spread out over a large area.

Inari's eyes widened as he watched the attack form helplessly. "Th-That's on another level completely!" He said as he watched the attack come crashing down toward him.

"Inari!" Chiyo yelled as the boy disappeared in a forest of Iron Sand that obscured her view. After a few seconds she caught sight of the young shinobi. He was shakily standing on his feet and was breathing heavily. She noticed he had cuts all over his torso and legs. Unable to stand any longer he collapsed. "Inari!"

"The poison has taken effect immediately. You'll die in three days as you are, not that I intend to give you that chance." Sasori said with a smile as he sent the Sandaime puppet flying towards the downed boy.

Chiyo watched in horror as the puppet closed the distance between itself and Inari. Blades sprouted from the arms and back of the puppet as it got just a few feet away from the poisoned brunette. Chiyo closed her eyes not wanting to see such a young boy die such a brutal death.

"Rasengan!"

Chiyo opened her eyes to see another Inari erupt from underneath the rubble of the cave's roof and slam a rasengan into Sasori's favorite human puppet. Sasori's eyes widened as the puppet was destroyed and its pieces were slung all over the battlefield. The Iron Sand fell lifless to the ground as the source of its power was destroyed.

Sasori narrowed his eyes at the brunette as he smiled triumphantly at the redhead. The poisoned 'Inari' on the ground poofed into smoke leaving only the original standing. _'He got me with his kage bunshin technique again. He's a resourceful kid. I guess using another human puppet would be pointless.'_ The puppeteer thought to himself as he unbuttoned his cloak. "This is the first time since joining Akatsuki, that I'll be using myself." He said as he tossed the cloak aside to reveal that his body had become that of a puppet. He had an open compartment on his stomach where he had a coil coated with poison and a tipped end. There were two poles coming from the back of his hips that had five blades attached to them, a scroll holder was also placed in between the poles along with several scrolls it was holding. Also there was a peculiar compartment on the left part of his chest, which held a container that had the kanji for scorpion on it, as well as a closed compartment on the other side of his chest. The coil in his stomach compartment extended and he stepped on it as it lifted him off the ground.

"That's insane…" Inari said as he stared at the puppet body in shock.

Chiyo narrowed her eyes at the sight of her grandson's puppet body. "No wonder he hasn't aged a day since he left the village." She watched as Sasori held out his hands and two small jets extended from the palms. "Quick, Inari duck behind those rocks!" She instructed as she too ran behind one for cover.

Inari followed her directions and leapt behind one of the rocks just as Sasori aimed and fired a large jet of fire from the jets at the two rocks Inari and Chiyo were hiding behind. Inari gritted his teeth as he felt the rock quickly heat up and he began sweating form the intense heat.

"It's pointless." Sasori said as he stopped spraying the fire and had the coil on his stomach launch itself towards Inari's rock. Inari had no time to react as the stinger-like coil grazed his side, infecting him with poison.

"Ack!" Inari cried as he clutched his wound.

"Inari!" Chiyo yelled, worried the poison would take effect.

'_Shit… The poison is in my system… I can't even see straight.'_ Inari thought as his vision became blurry and his muscles tensed up, refusing to move. He closed his eyes as he prepared for his last resort. _'Sorry Nii-san. Looks like I'm going to use it after all.'_ The spiral curse mark on his chest began to glow once more along with all the markings. The marks slowly began to consume every part of his body as the orang-red glow continued. Inari ignored the burning sensation he felt all over his body and continued with the transformation. Once the marks stopped glowing his skin had become a gray-brown color, his sclera were now black and his irises were yellow, three black whisker-like marks had appeared on each of his cheeks, he had grown four horn-like spikes on his back placed along his spine, his hair had turned darker and grown longer, his canines grew so that they looked like fangs and were just barely visible when his mouth was closed, and his ears became pointed.

Chiyo looked at him with wide eyes, clearly astonished by the transformation. He looked at her with a serious expression. "This is my Cursed Seal Level Two," He explained before standing and facing Sasori. "With this power, I'll end this fight."

Sasori smiled wickedly as Inari came out from behind the rock. "The second level of Curse Seal? That won't be enough to help you here." Sasori said as the blades on his back began spinning at rapid speeds, allowing him to fly. Once he was off the ground he headed straight for Inari. "Die!"

Inari prepared a Rasengan in his right hand as Sasori closed the distance between them. The rotating orb glowed purple rather than blue from his Curse Mark chakra. _'The winner will be decided by who strikes quicker!'_ Inari thought as he took a step towards Sasori and launched himself towards the puppeteer from the ground.

Using her chakra strings, Chiyo was able to slow Sasori down. "Chiyo-baa!" Sasori yelled in frustration as Inari slammed the ball into his torso, reducing him to pieces.

"Rasengan!" He yelled as the attack connected and sent parts of Sasori's puppet body everywhere. He looked over to Chiyo and smiled. "We did it Chiyo-baasama!" He said with a sigh of relief.

Chiyo smiled back, amazed at the boy's sheer guts. _'He may not be a particularly strong shinobi yet, but the strength of his willpower is what is so great.'_ She thought as she watched Inari drop to a knee to catch his breath.

The happy moment was short-lived however, when the sound of puppet parts moving around was heard. Inari's eyes as he turned to see Sasori's body pulling itself back together. The head was the last piece to come back to the body and once it connected it spun around to look at Inari and Chiyo with a scary expression. "You did what, exactly?" Sasori asked as his body was reformed.

Inari jumped back and landed next to Chiyo. "I thought for sure we'd destroyed him!" He growled in frustration as he stared down Sasori.

Chiyo frowned as she pulled a scroll out from her weapon pouch. "I forbade myself from using this technique but I'm left with no choice." She said as she opened the scroll and made a handsign. Inari watched in awe as ten puppets wearing white robes were summoned from the scroll.

"Ten puppets at once? No way…" Inari said, amazed by Chiyo's ability with puppets.

"I've heard rumors of your ultimate technique Chiyo-baa, the Shirohigi: Jikki Chikamatsu no Shū (White Secret Technique: The Chikamatsu Collection of Ten Puppets). You're able to manipulate ten puppets by using one finger per puppet. Those puppets helped you take down an entire castle. However," Sasori said as he removed one of the scrolls on his back with a chakra string and threw it into the air. The scroll open and an overwhelming number of puppets flooded out of the scroll and filled the air above. The closed compartment on his chest opened and hundreds of chakra strings came out, attaching themselves to the puppets. "I took down an entire nation with these."

"This is unbelievable!" Inari said in disbelief at the number of puppets Sasori could control.

Sasori lowered his head and rested his face on his palm. "Just how long is it gonna take me to deal with an old hag and a brat? To think I'd even have to use my final puppets." He said before raising his head and looking straight at Inari with an expression that sent chills down his spine. "Akahigi: Hyakki no Sōen (Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets)"

Inari ran to Chiyo's side and dropped into a fighting stance as he face the army of puppets. Chiyo narrowed her eyes at the approaching puppets and addressed Inari, "Inari, you've been poisoned. On top of that you're using that power that you said could be fatal. Stay out of this and I'll-"

"Chiyo-baasama!" He yelled, shocking the old woman. "You should know by now that I won't back down. We're in this together! We're comrades!" He said with a determined smile.

Chiyo was shocked that even now the boy refused to retreat. She smiled as she prepared to take down Sasori's puppets. "Very well. This will be the last act. Hope you're ready."

"Yes!"

Sasori's puppets came flying towards the duo in a flash. Inari moved forward intent on destroying as many as possible. He lashed out with a fury of taijutsu as he dodged punches and slashes expertly. Chiyo had her puppets aid her in the fight, keeping one close to her while the others spread out and used their ablities to take out as many of Sasori's puppets as possible.

Inari was hit by one and sent crashing into the rubble of the cave, landing on something strange. He looked to see that it was his sword, stuck under some of the rubble. He pulled out his sword and prepared to face the fast-approaching onslaught of the puppets. "Mikazukishiki: Kitsune no Suimin! (Crescent Moon Style: Sleeping Fox)" He yelled as he channeled chakra into his blade and let loose a powerful horizontal slash that sent a wave of chakra at the puppets, slicing several to pieces. Seeing more approaching he quickly made a few handsigns. "Katon: Enkadō! (Fire Release: Flame Vortex)" A spiraling flame shot from his mouth and engulfed several puppets, incinerating them.

Chiyo meanwhile was taking out many puppets herself. She had three puppets use a fuuton technique that sucked a large group of puppets in like a vacuum and crushed them while another cut through many of Sasori's puppets with its large cleaver swords. The puppet she had close to her using taijutsu was also destroying several while the others fought as well with their various weapons. One pair had one puppet turn into a weapon with a spinning blade of pure chakra that the second puppet threw around to slice Sasori's army up.

After a while of fighting the puppets, the numbers advantage began to take its toll on Inari and Chiyo. Refusing to lose, Inari formed a handseal that resembled a cross. "Kage bunshin no jutsu! (Shadow Clone Technique)" He yelled as four clones appeared by his side. The five Inari's split up and went to work on the puppets, slicing them and unleashing katon jutsu. Chiyo was panting as she struggled to keep up using all of her puppets. She accidently let one get in her blind spot and it came close to striking her as it destroyed her puppet.

She was saved at the last second by Inari as he slammed a rasengan into the puppet, dismantling it. "Chiyo-baasama!"

"Here take this." She instructed as one of the puppets dropped a strange ball from its mouth into Inari's hand. "Hit Sasori with this and it's all over. I'll cover you, go!"

Inari ran full speed avoiding and destroying the puppets in his way as he approached Sasori. As he got closer and destroyed more puppets, the puppets remaining got stronger and began destroying Chiyo's puppets. One got in his way and he had a kage bunshin blow it apart with a rasengan before poofing out of existence. "There!" He said as he found an opening. Sasori looked at him in shock that he could get passed so many of his puppets. "Take this!" He yelled as he threw the ball at Sasori, which to both boys' surprise turned into a giant lion-like head that pinned Sasori against a wall and caused a strange seal to appear around him.

"It's over now Sasori. You can't use a single chakra thread in that seal. It suppresses all chakra." Chiyo said as she panted, worn out from the long battle.

Inari noticed something was strange about Sasori's body pinned against the wall but had no time to inquire about it as he saw movement in his peripheral vision and his body moved to intercept it. "Chiyo-baasama!" He yelled as he stepped in front of her just in time to take a stab through the abdomen by one of Sasori's poisoned blades. Sasori had switched his body with a substitution and laid among the downed puppets waiting for an opening to strike Chiyo. Inari had caught sight of him however and protected her at the last second.

Chiyo's eyes widened at the wound inflicted on the boy. "Inari!"

Sasori frowned as he attempted to remove his blade from the boy's abdomen. Inari however held onto the blade with one hand while making a handsign with the other. He glared at Sasori as he muttered, "Raiton: Shitomeru. (Lightning Release: Electrocution)" From the hand on the sword he sent a high-voltage surge of electricity into the blade, shocking Sasori violently.

Sasori let go of the blade and staggered back a couple of steps, just in time to see two puppets flying towards him with blades drawn. He froze when he realized it was his Mother and Father Puppets. He stood still as the pierced the container in his chest that housed his heart, the last human part of him. The head of the puppet that had given the ball to Inari to throw at Sasori and seal his chakra had made a seal around Sasori as insurance in case the move failed.

"This is it. I struck the one part of you that was still human. You can't move this time, I've made sure." Chiyo said as she tried to catch her breath. Inari let out a small laugh as his Curse Seal receded and he fell to the ground. Sasori chuckled wickedly despite his situation. "Inari! I better pull this sword out and heal him before it's too late." Her hand began glowing with chakra as she removed the sword and closed the wound.

"You won't be able to save him," Sasori said with a laugh. "I aimed for a vital spot. There's too many blood vessels. I knew you'd try to heal him so I aimed at a spot that was hard for a medic to treat."

"This isn't medical ninjutsu." Chiyo stated as her hand glowed blue and she tried to revive Inari. "This is a life transferring technique." Sasori's eyes widened. "I originally made this jutsu for you. It could even give life to puppets… In exchange for the user's life."

Inari slowly began to open his eyes as Chiyo's technique was working. He began to raise up as Chiyo stopped the technique.

"Pathetic." Sasori muttered as blood trickled from his mouth. "I thought that technique was supposed to kill the user?"

"Inari wasn't dead, he was just fatally wounded. So now I'm like this." She explained through heavy breaths.

"Well that's a pity."

Inari hauled off and slugged Sasori as hard as he could, cracking his face slightly. His head quickly spun around and he smirked at Inari's angry expression.

"Hit me all you want, you'll only end up hurting your hand. This body feels no pain." Sasori said with a stoic expression. "My grandmother could die right now and I'd feel nothing. My heart is the same as this body, unfeeling. She'd just be one of the thousands I've killed."

Inari had heard enough, "Don't say that!" He snapped as he punched Sasori again, his curse seal beginning to activate once more, covering his right hand and half his face in spiral markings. Tears welled up in his eyes as he glared at Sasori. "Don't you understand the value of life? It's to be cherished and protected! Where the fuck is your humanity! YOU HEARTLESS BASTARD!" He yelled as he punched him again.

Sasori's expression remained the same. "Are those the words of a true shinobi?" He asked.

"You son of a bitch-" Inari yelled as he was about to sock the puppeteer again but was stopped by Chiyo.

"Inari, it's ok." Chiyo said as she closed her eyes. "It's the customs and teachings of my village that have made him this way."

"You should try becoming a puppet like me, then maybe you'll get it." Sasori said making Inari clench his fists in anger. "A body that never decays or feels pain. It can be rebuilt or modified to fit whatever situation. If I need anyone around me, I can just make them into puppets. I don't just add to my collection for the sake of numbers you know. It's all about quality."

"You're disgusting." Inari responded while resisting his urge to slug the puppeteer again.

"I'll do something pointless for you, think of it as a reward for beating me." The redheaded Akatsuki said as he felt his life slipping away. "You wanted to know about Orochimaru, right? Go to Tenchi bridge in the Land of Grass at noon ten days from now."

Inari blinked, not sure what to think of his words. "What do you-"

"I've got a spy in Orochimaru's subordinates. He's supposed to meet me there in ten days." Sasori explained with his last breath. He hung his head and let his life slip away with a calm expression on his face.

After catching his breath, Inari looked to Chiyo. "It's over Chiyo-baasama. For real this time." He said with a smile.

She wiped the tears that had begun to swell in her eyes and smiled back at the boy. "Yeah… It's over." She agreed as she stared at the corpse of Sasori on the ground, flanked on either side by his Mother and Father Puppets. "No, he saw my last attack. I should've lost."

"Really?" Inari asked confused. "Are you sure?"

"He let himself be hit. I'm certain of it." She answered before collapsing.

"Chiyo-baasama!"

She rose up with some help from Inari. "I'm fine, let's catch up with the others." She said as she stood to her feet.

* * *

Naruto and Tayuya pursued Deidara as he flew away with Gaara in his clutches. Tayuya had managed to calm Naruto down from his rage but he was beginning to get angry again.

"Damn it! How do we get this guy if he won't come down and fight?" Naruto asked as his frustration started to get the better of him.

"Calm down, shithead. You have to use a long range move on guys like these." Tayuya said as she pulled out her flute.

Naruto watched her, curious as to what she was planning. She began playing a melody that reached the ears of Deidara on his clay bird overhead. He looked around to see where the sound was coming from but it was too late. Tayuya smirked seeing her genjutsu had worked. She placed him in a genjutsu that would make him think he is flying straight ahead while he's actually losing altitude.

"Bingo." Tayuya said as she watched him and his bird begin to fly lower to ground before they crashed into the side of a cliff. "Now!" She signaled as she threw a kunai with an exploding tag towards the spot where the bird crashed.

Deidara lifted himself up from the ground at his crash site just in time for an explosive kunai to land between him and the his clay bird. "Shit!" He yelled as he jumped back. He was still caught in part of the explosion but he was out of clay now so he opted to make a run for it rather than pay the duo back.

Tayuya and Naruto landed at the crash site and began tearing the clay bird apart. "Got it!" Tayuya said as she ripped it apart to reveal Gaara's corpse inside.

Naruto hung his head at the site of his dead friend and felt a familiar chakra wash over him. His eyes became red and his whisker marks grew more defined as he ran in the direction Deidara escaped.

"Shithead, wait!" Tayuya yelled as he left her alone. She looked at the Kazekage's corpse and decided to leave a kage bunshin with it so she could go after Naruto.

Deidara ran across the tops of the trees, leaping as he attempted to escape but he was stopped by a familiar cry. "Rasengan!" Naruto cried as he slammed the spiraling ball into the Akatsuki member's abdomen and sent him crashing to the ground.

Deidara hit the ground hard then opened his eyes to be met with a hard knee to the gut as the blonde landed. Naruto proceeded to punch the shit out of Deidara and bloody his knuckles in the process as his rage got the better of him. He finished by shoving a rasengan into the man's face only to find that he had been beating on a clay clone. More anger filled his head as he began to form a fox-like cloak of red chakra around his body with two tails.

Tayuya arrived just in time to see Naruto's transformation. "Damnit Shithead, you're supposed to stay in control!" She whispered as Naruto let out a feral cry and charged after Deidara.

"That Kyuubi brat sure can punch hard, hmmm." Deidara said as he spit out some blood. He continued on the route he had been taking, looking for something. "There it is!" He said as he found a clay bird that he had left in the area just in case something happened. He formed a handseal and the bird grew larger and came to life. "I guess I should retreat, I didn't count on the redhead tagging along. I'll go retrieve Sasori-danna, hmmm." He hopped on the bird and flew off, leaving Naruto and Tayuya behind.

Tayuya caught sight of him flying off overhead back towards where he came from. "Tch, pussy. Won't even fight us straight up." She said as she stopped, seeing Naruto in his two-tailed state tearing the forest apart looking for Deidara. She remembered something Jiraiya told her before they left.

_**Flashback**_

_They were camping out in a forest in The Land of Fire on their way back to Konoha. Naruto was asleep already, tired from some really intense one-on-one training with Jiraiya. Inari and Tayuya were sitting at the campfire eating their supper and talking when Jiraiya walked up from the woods. "Inari, go get some more firewood will ya? This thing's fading fast." Jiraiya said._

"_Yes, Jiraiya-sama!" The boy responded before running off into the woods._

_Once he was gone Jiraiya looked to Tayuya. "Tayuya, I need to tell you something. I didn't want Inari to hear because he may tell Naruto." _

_Tayuya looked up, knowing it must be serious. "What is it?" She asked._

"_You know that Akatsuki is after the jinchuuriki like Naruto. I intercepted one of Sunagakure's messenger birds that was on its way to Konoha. The Kazekage, a jinchuuriki, was captured earlier tonight. I'm sending you guys to investigate it. It'll be a good chance to get Tsunade-hime to see that you're on our side and that Inari is capable enough to be a shinobi." He explained._

_Tayuya raised an eyebrow. "And why don't you want Naruto to know about that?"_

"_It's not that. I'm positive it was Akatsuki who kidnapped the Kazekage. Knowing how Naruto tends to let his emotions get the better of him, I'm afraid he may have an incident if I sent you unprepared." The white haired sage said as he pulled out a small piece of paper with a seal on it._

_Tayuya took it and studied it. "Fuinjutsu? This is more, yours and Naruto's area of expertise." She said handing it back to the man._

"_No, this is a seal that will suppress the Kyuubi's chakra if Naruto is too unstable." He explained as he handed it back to her. "Just press this to his head and pour chakra into it and it will bring him back to normal if he begins to transform."_

_Tayuya nodded in understanding. "But do you really think he'll have another incident?" _

"_With Akatsuki involved there's no telling. But I know I can trust you with this, if anyone can calm him down it's you." Jiraiya said with a wink._

_The redhead blushed and looked away in embarrassment, "Yeah right! Inari and you could do just as good! I'm not even good at fuinjutsu."_

"_But you're the one closest to his heart." Jiraiya said placing a hand on the girl's head and ruffling her hair._

_Her face was beet red at his words. She snapped her head from his grasp as she stood up and scowled at him. "You old asshole! Do you really have nothing better to do than pick on teenagers? Fuck!"_

_Jiraiya chuckled at her display before asking her seriously, "But seriously Tayuya, can I trust you with this? You'll need to stick close to him the entire time. If the worst case scenario happens then you have to try to suppress the Kyuubi's chakra before he grows more than three tails."_

"_I got it. I'll keep that dumbass safe, it would be pretty boring without him around I guess…" She said acting as though she didn't really care._

_Jiraiya seen right through her and just chuckled as he got up from his seat. "I'm sure you would be pretty bored without him wouldn't you?" He said with a grin._

_Tayuya responded by throwing a kunai at the man who disappeared in puff. "Damn kage bunshin." She muttered as Inari returned with the firewood._

_**Flashback End**_

Reaching into her pocket she pulled out the seal Jiraiya had given her. She frowned as she called out his name, "Shithead!" The two-tailed Naruto turned to look at her with a feral expression on his face. She leapt down and walked up to him slowly. "Look calm down Shithead. It's just me, see?" She said as she got closer.

Naruto looked at her curiously as she approached him. Once she was close enough she slapped the seal on his forehead and poured some chakra into it. She watched in amazement as the chakra started to recede and Naruto began to change back to normal.

"Tayuya-chan?" He asked as he clutched his throbbing head.

"No shit." She said as smirked at him.

At that moment her kage bunshin joined them, carrying Gaara's corpse. Naruto's saddened at the sight of his deceased friend. "So he really is…"

Tayuya frowned and looked away. "Afraid so Shithead… Sorry…"

From the tree tops above, Inari and Chiyo descended, landing next to the duo. "Nii-san! Did you guys win?"

"He ran away. I couldn't stop him, I was too caught up in my rage." Naruto said ashamed of himself.

"Let's get back to the village," Tayuya suggested, deciding that it wouldn't do them any good to hang around.

* * *

The group relocated to a field not far from Sunagakure. They decided to take a rest there while Chiyo checked Gaara's body to make sure there was no possible way he could be saved, as per Naruto's request.

Once she had examined the body Chiyo shook her head. "I'm sorry. He's gone." She said.

Naruto tensed up hearing those words. He clenched his fists as he felt the tears stream down his face. "It's your fault… ALL YOU DAMN SUNA SHINOBI!" He yelled at Chiyo, catching everyone off guard. "You sealed a monster inside of him and labeled him as a nuisance! Did any of you ever even ask how he was feeling? The only monsters I see are you people!"

Chiyo simply closed her eyes and hung her head. Tayuya was shocked by his outburst but didn't know what to say so she opted to stay quiet. Inari sprung up and stood in front of Naruto.

"Nii-san! This isn't Chiyo-baasama's fault! You can't blame her, Akatsuki is at fault here!" He said standing up to his Nii-san.

Naruto calmed down a bit at Inari's words and turned away from the group. He fell to his knees and punched the ground. "I know it's not her fault. I just… I went on this trip and I'm still the same! I couldn't save Gaara and I couldn't save Sasuke! I'm worthless-"

He was stopped when he felt a pair of slender arms wrap around him from behind. He looked to see it was Tayuya, with a pained expression on her face. "Don't say that! You're not worthless Shithead. Don't put this on yourself… I don't want to see you suffer" She said in a gentle voice.

Naruto shut up and let his tears flow as he mourned Gaara's death. Inari stood silent with a sad expression. He knew his Nii-san's heart was breaking and he wished he could help.

Without a word, Chiyo raised her hands back over Gaara's body and they began to glow. Inari's eyes widened when he realized what she was doing.

Naruto looked over wiping the tears from his eyes. "What are you doing? You said it was too late for medical ninjutsu, right?" He asked.

"This isn't a medical jutsu." Inari said sadly. "She's reviving Gaara."

Naruto was shocked, "Reviving him?"

Chiyo panted as she began to feel her chakra levels dropping quickly. "I don't have enough chakra. I might fail but…"

"Use my chakra!" Naruto suggested as he knelt down on the opposite side of Gaara.

Chiyo thought about it for a moment then sighed. "Place your hands on top of mine." She instructed. Naruto did as he was told and Chiyo began using his chakra as well. "I'm glad… That in my last moments I was able to help the future generations carry on. Naruto Uzumaki, thank you." Chiyo said before falling back.

"Obaa-san!" Naruto yelled in shock. Before he could check on her though Gaara began to stir. He turned his attention back to the young Kazekage who was raising up. "Gaara." Naruto whispered with a smile.

"Naruto Uzumaki?" Gaara said as he slowly felt his senses coming back to him.

"Kazekage-sama!"

"Gaara-sama!"

"Gaara-dono!"

The group looked to see many Suna shinobi running up to them, filling the small field. They all smiled and cried tears of joy at the sight of their beloved Kazekage raising from the dead.

Naruto looked over to Chiyo who was laid back in Inari's arms. "This is great Obaa-san! You did it after all!"

Inari was shaking as tears fell from his eyes and dripped onto the old woman's face. "Chiyo-baasama…" He cried.

Naruto's eyes widened as realization started to sync in. "No… Obaa-san… She's just sleeping, right? She's gonna get up and-"

"Naruto!" A familiar voice called. Naruto's eyes widened as he saw Kakashi and Sakura standing among the crowd. Kakashi frowned and hung his head slightly. "You should know by now. She's dead."

Naruto let his tears flow once more before feeling a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head to see it was Tayuya. "Tayuya-chan…"

Gaara rose up and addressed the crowd, "Everyone please, pray for Chiyo-sama." Gaara pleaded. The entire crowd lowered their heads and said prayers for their beloved Elder.

Inari held her tightly and let his tears keep falling as he prayed. _'Chiyo-baasama, I won't waste this life you saved. I'll make you proud!'_ He thought as he swallowed a lump in his throat. _'I'll become a man who protects everyone and a shinobi that you would respect!'_

* * *

**_Author's Note: _**_That's it for this chapter. This is the longest one so far but I wanted to wrap things up here because I knew I wouldn't be able to drag out the stuff with Deidara and Gaara's revival long enough in the next chapter. Anyway that's it for the Kazekage Rescue Arc, next time will most likely be Naruto, Tayuya, and Inari getting used to life in Konoha and meeting the Konoha crew. Thanks for reading and please review, your feedback is always appreciated._


	5. Hero's Return

**Symphony of Fate**

_Chapter 5: Hero's Return_

_**Author's Note: **Took me awhile to write this one. Didn't have any motivation hit me till just a few days ago haha. I've had so much going on and everytime I tried to sit down and write this chapter out I'd get an idea for something else or something I wanna do in this fic later down the road. Anyway, thanks for all the reviews and favorites. I was happy to see a couple of reviews that gave me some criticism, that's what I was waiting for. Well enjoy this chapter, it's kind of a transition chapter but it's all I have for ya for right now.  
_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters in the series. Naruto and all of its characters belong to the amazing Masashi Kishimoto._

* * *

Naruto and Inari stood at an hourglass-shaped grave in Sunagakure. Naruto placed a hand on Inari's shoulder as the boy said a prayer. From behind the two Tayuya stood with Kakashi, Sakura, Jiraiya (Who had arrived after Gaara was brought back to life by Chiyo), and the sand siblings.

"Naruto, Inari! It's time to leave!" Tayuya called to them.

"Right. Let's go." Naruto said with a smile as Inari stood to his feet.

The brunette boy smiled back at him. "Yeah."

The two walked over to catch up with the group and then they left to entrance of the village. They stopped just outside the gate of Sunagakure and turned to Gaara and the others.

"Seeya." Kankurou said with a small awkward wave. He'd been out for the majority of the time the Konoha shinobi had been there but he was still grateful for what they'd done for his brother.

"Seeya Kankurou-san." Inari said with a wave of his own.

Tayuya tried to sneak away from the Sand Trio when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She jerked her head around to see Temari smirking at her. _'Shit. Just who I wanted to avoid.'_ Tayuya thought as she began sweating bullets.

"I remember you," Temari whispered. She watched Tayuya stiffen and giggled at her response. "Don't worry, you're obviously reformed now. And you helped save my brother, I'm in your debt." The blonde kunoichi said with a bow.

Tayuya sighed in relief seeing she had nothing to fear. "It's no sweat. Just don't make a habit outta needin us. It's hot as fuck out here and we won't be able to come runnin everytime your ass is in a bind." She said as Temari grew a tick mark.

The blonde suppressed her anger and forced a smile at the redhead. "Please come back soon, Tayuya-san."

"Well I guess this is it, huh?" Naruto said as he extended his hand to Gaara.

The redheaded Kazekage took it with his own hand and shook. "Thank you, Naruto Uzumaki." Gaara said before smiling. "Next time we meet, let's both meet as kages of our villages."

Naruto's eyes widened for a moment before he grinned and adjusted his headband. "Just you wait! I'll become a Hokage like no other!"

After saying their goodbye's the group began the journey back to Konohagakure. Once they were a good distance away Naruto glanced at Tayuya as she sighed in relief.

Naruto had a worried look on his face as he addressed Tayuya, "Tayuya-chan, did you make peace with Temari? I could tell you were nervous around her before we went after the Akatsuki guys. Was it coz she beat-"

"Fuck you!" Tayuya roared as grabbed Naruto's throat. "That was a million years ago, I'm way stronger than that bitch now!"

"I'M SORRY!" Naruto choked out as he tried to wrestle his neck from her grip. Lucky for him the girl stopped when she heard another conversation going on between Jiraiya and Inari.

"So then she hugged him and said 'I don't want to see you suffer!' It was completely out of her character!" Inari explained to Jiraiya as he mimicked Tayuya's actions the day before.

Jiraiya was jotting down notes on a notepad as he listened to Inari. "Really? How bold of her. What else?" The white haired Sannin asked.

"Then she- ACK!" He was stopped when Tayuya switched from strangling Naruto to putting Inari in a headlock.

"What the fuck are you bastards talkin about?" She asked with evil look in her eyes.

Jiraiya quickly put up his notebook and snuck over to Kakashi and Sakura, who were watching the display. Tayuya had Inari in a headlock while she had Naruto in an armbar with her legs. The two boys were crying for mercy as she laughed wickedly.

"So I've been meaning to ask, who is this girl?" Sakura inquired as she looked to Jiraiya.

The Sannin chuckled a bit as he watched his students. "Her name is Tayuya. She was a former Oto kunoichi." Sakura stiffened at the man's words. "She actually was one of the Sound Four that helped bring Sasuke to Orochimaru. However after barely surviving a fight with the Nara boy and the Sand kunoichi, she quit following Orochimaru and helped Naruto to a hospital. Naruto made a connection with her and you know him, when he decides something you can't talk him out of it."

"But isn't it dangerous for a former Sound Shinobi to be working with Konoha? How do we know we can trust her?" Sakura asked, unsure on whether the redhead could be trusted.

"She's been traveling with us for three years now. In these three years I've noticed something. Naruto has a gift, he can change people. With just his words and actions, whether he means to or not he can completely shatter someone's vision of the world and make them see it the way he does. I'm not sure how but he made a friend in Tayuya. I can honestly say that I trust Tayuya more than I trust most shinobi in the village."

Sakura nodded. She wasn't completely sure but the girl seemed nice enough, despite her foul-mouth and violent tendencies. But if Naruto and Jiraiya trusted her than that was enough for her.

* * *

It took the group three days to get back to Konoha after the incident in Suna. The trip back had mostly consisted of Naruto and Sakura chatting and catching up, much to Tayuya's annoyance. While the two teammates got caught up, Kakashi, Jiraiya and Inari also chatted about Inari's decision to become a shinobi and his training under Naruto and Tayuya. Tayuya stayed quite the whole trip, not liking that Naruto had instantly abandoned her for the pink haired girl.

After their three day trip the group was to report to the Hokage so that she could officially make Inari and Tayuya shinobi of Konoha and to welcome Naruto home. So now the group of five stood before the busty Hokage as she had Jiraiya present them their headbands.

"Inari Kitamori, Tayuya Utawara, as the Hokage, I officially welcome you two to Konohagakure." Tsunade stated as Jiraiya gave them their headbands. Tayuya tied hers around her head while Inari opted to wear his around his neck. The blonde then shifted her gaze to Naruto and smiled. "And Naruto Uzumaki, welcome home."

Naruto grinned hearing her words and saluted her. "I'm back Baa-chan!" He yelled. Sakura and Tsunade both grew tick marks on their heads.

Sakura elbowed him in the ribs hard and put him in a headlock as she looked at Tsunade apologetically. "Sorry Tsunade-sama, please excuse my idiot teammate." The pinkette said before turning her attention to Naruto. "Show some more respect Naruto! She's the Hokage!"

Tayuya grew a tick mark as she watched the two, something only Inari and Jiraiya caught. The Toad Sannin and the boy glanced at each other and exchanged a small smile. Inari tapped Tayuya on the shoulder, catching her attention and smiled at her encouragingly.

"Tayuya-nee, you should just-" He began to speak but he was cut off after being hit with a sharp pain in his head and collapsing to a knee. He clutched his head as he cried out in pain. Everyone's attention snapped to Inari.

"Inari!" Naruto yelled as he ran over and knelt in front of the boy. "What's wrong?"

"Sakura!" Tsunade commanded.

"Yes Tsunade-sama!" The pinkette responded as she ran over and her hands began glowing as she placed them above the brunette boy's head.

Inari had his eyes closed and was shaking from pain as the throbbing in his head began to die down. Eventually it completely subsided and he opened his eyes.

Kakashi stepped toward him and offered his hand. "You ok now?"

Inari took his hand and smiled apologetically. "Yeah, sorry about that. It was just a bad headache, probably from stress or something…" He said, waving it off.

Sakura and Tsunade looked at each other with raised eyebrows. Tayuya and Jiraiya exchanged a worried look while Naruto rose up from kneeling on the ground.

"You used it…" The blonde said in a low voice, almost a whisper, catching everyone's attention. "You used it didn't you?" He yelled this time in anger as he grabbed Inari by the collar of his shirt and got in his face, shocking everyone.

Inari hung his head. "It was necessary, if I didn't I don't know that I could've-" He was cut off by Naruto slugging him in the face, sending him to the ground hard.

"Naruto/Shithead!" Sakura and Tayuya both yelled in shock.

Tsunade looked at Jiraiya who held up a hand signifying for her to wait with a frown.

Naruto paid no attention to the others as he continued, "I told you it was forbidden to use that power! You're only allowed to use the first stage, Stage Two is off limits until your body can handle it!"

Inari spit out some blood and rubbed his jaw as he looked up to his teacher. "You said I had permission-"

"To use the first stage! What's the point of going further if it kills you?" Naruto demanded.

Inari fell silent as he hung his head. Sakura was about to say something when Kakashi held up a hand to stop her. Inari quickly dropped to his hands and knees, bowing before Naruto. "Master, forgive me! From now on I won't use level two until my body can handle it!" He declared.

Naruto's stern look softened a bit hearing that and he offered a hand to the boy. Inari took it and stood back up. "Good. As long as you know where you stand. I'm labeling Level Two as a kinjutsu for you."

Sakura and Tsunade blinked. "Level Two?" Sakura asked.

Jiraiya cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention. "You see about six months ago, Naruto and I infiltrated one of Orochimaru's old hideouts and discovered scrolls on the secrets of his various Juinjutsu (Cursed Seal Techniques). Well I had been training Naruto in fuinjutsu so he was naturally curious about the possibility of learning about Juinjutsu. I allowed him to take the scrolls and a sample that was from one of Orochimaru's test subjects that was needed to create the seal. After studying it for about a month he had figured out a way to make his own type of Cursed Seal. Inari volunteered to let him place the Seal on him and so Naruto did." The Sannin explained.

Kakashi looked at Naruto. "Naruto, how were you able to do something as complicated as make your own Juinjutsu?" The one-eyed jounin asked.

Naruto shrugged. "It wasn't too hard once you understand the basics. The hardest part would've had to have been gathering a sample of Orochimaru's test subject that he makes the seals from but we happened to find a sample laying around so we were in luck." The blonde explained. "I used that sample as the basis of the seal but because it was the first Cursed Seal I've made, it was imperfect and unstable. Things actually seemed pretty bad but I managed to fix it by sealing some of mine and the Kyuubi's chakra into the seal."

Tsunade's eyes widened and Sakura raised an eyebrow. "So he is able to use the Kyuubi's chakra?" Tsunade asked in shock.

"Not exactly," Naruto explained, "Picture it like this, the seal is like a machine. It's composed of lots of runes and the sample of Orochimaru's test subject which acts as the various pieces of metal and electrical materials. That stuff is important to make a machine but the machine is useless without nuts and bolts to hold it together. That's where the Kyuubi's chakra comes in, it acts as the bolts that hold it all together, so to speak."

Tsunade nodded in understanding. "I see, but doesn't the Kyuubi's chakra being in the seal hurt him at all?"

"I actually took a gamble there, at first I thought I had fixed the seal by putting in the Kyuubi's chakra, and it did work at first. But we quickly realized that the Kyuubi's chakra was too strong and too dark for Inari to handle. So I did the best thing I could think of."

"You sealed in your own chakra." Kakashi said realizing Naruto's train of thought. If Naruto was able to use the Kyuubi's chakra, his chakra should be strong enough to suppress it. _'Probably didn't work for the reasons you think though Naruto. I'm sure you being an Uzumaki and the son of Kushina-sama had something to do with it as well.'_ Kakashi mentally added.

"Exactly. I figured that since I'm able to withstand the Kyuubi's chakra then it would make sense that my chakra could suppress it. If only just a bit." Naruto finished explaining.

Tsunade was stunned. Naruto had been able to create his own Juinjutsu. Of course she chalked up his knowledge and skill with fuinjutsu to his lineage as one of the Uzumaki clan but it was still a great feat. "Not bad, brat. But what's this about level two?"

Naruto nodded and glanced at Inari. "Well the Cursed Seals have two levels. The first one is more of the seal trying to progress to the second so you could say that the first level is just an incomplete form of the second level. Anyway, Inari's body just isn't physically able to withstand the overwhelming chakra from level two yet. It puts a great strain his body and if he pushed himself too hard could kill him. That's why he's banned from using it until I deem him physically ready for it." The blonde explained as he crossed his arms.

"Wait, what's all this about the Kyuubi?" Sakura asked, puzzled by how nobody in the room but her found it odd that Naruto had access to the Kyuubi's chakra somehow.

An odd silence fell over the room as Kakashi and Jiraiya looked at one another. Tayuya looked away scratching the back of her neck while Tsunade and Inari looked at Naruto. Naruto sighed and rubbed the back of his head.

"Well I guess you're the last to find out. Sakura, I'm the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi." Naruto said bluntly. Sakura's eyes widened in shock. "Sixteen years ago the Yondaime sealed it into me to save the village."

"Naruto, that's…. I'm sorry…" The pinkette said at a loss for words. Everything made sense now, the reason the villagers seemed so hostile towards Naruto. The reason most parents didn't want their children around Naruto when they were young. They all hated him for what was inside of him. She felt a horrible feeling in her gut. She felt like she should say something to cheer him up but nothing came to mind.

"Don't sweat it." Naruto said waving it off. "So Baa-chan, what's next?"

"Well, as I'm sure you've been told, I'm promoting you to Chuunin." The blonde Hokage said.

Naruto jumped for joy. "Really? Sweet!" Tayuya rolled her eyes while Inari and Sakura smiled at the sight.

"As for your next mission, I'm having Team Kakashi investigate this situation in the Land of Grass." Tsunade explained as she took a sip of some coffee on her desk.

"When you say Team Kakashi," Naruto said as he looked over to Tayuya.

Tsunade noticed this and spoke, "I mean the old Team Kakashi plus Tayuya, since Jiraiya says she's the only one who could suppress Naruto if the Kyuubi were to act up. Inari is to stay here however, I don't want to send more than a single four-man squad on this mission."

Inari deflated. He was hoping that since he was the one who got the information about the meeting in the Land of Grass he'd get to go. Naruto patted him on the head and smiled. "Don't feel bad Inari, when I get back we'll get started on some serious training!"

The brunette boy instantly lit up hearing that. After his battle with Sasori, he was eager to get stronger. "Alright Nii-san!"

Tsunade watched the two in amusement before addressing the next order of business. "Lastly, we've prepared for your return Naruto. Your old place wasn't really big enough for one person let alone three so…"

Naruto's jaw dropped. "No way…"

"I pulled some strings and was able to fix you up with another place. It's an actual house instead of an apartment. Two stories, three bedrooms, two bathrooms. I believe you three will enjoy it." The Hokage stated as she smiled at them.

Tayuya froze. _'I'm gonna have to live with Shithead? Well I don't really have anywhere else but… And now that I think about it I don't wanna be too far away… He might do something perverted if he's all alone in that house with no one to kick his ass into shape.'_ She thought to herself.

"This is great!" The blonde jinchuuriki shouted. "Tayuya-chan, Inari, we'll be roommates!" He yelled in excitement as he jumped for joy like a kid opening his favorite gift at Christmas.

Tayuya and Sakura sweatdropped as Naruto and Inari cheered.

"Naruto's always lived alone so I'm sure the idea of living with other people has got him thrilled. Inari too, he's only ever had his mother and grandfather since his dad died but now he'll be able to live with his sibling-figures. "Kakashi Whispered from behind the two girls. Sakura smiled a bit and Tayuya smirked hearing that.

"I guess living with Shithead and Shithead Jr. won't be TOO horrible." Tayuya said with a small smile as she watched the two boys she'd grown attached to over the past three years goof around. _'But if Shithead tries to do anything perverted he fucking dies.'_ She mentally added with an evil expression.

* * *

"Alright! I can't wait to show you guys this place, it's hands down the pride of Konohagakure!" Naruto declared proudly. After speaking with the Hokage, Naruto, Tayuya, Sakura, and Inari had decided to celebrate their return to Konoha by visiting a certain place. That is to say, Naruto decided to celebrate at this certain place.

Sakura sweatdropped at her teammate's display. "It's just a ramen stand Naruto, don't get their hopes up."

"Oh come on Sakura-chan! I've been devastated without this place, I've had to rely on instant ramen for most of my meals." The blonde complained.

"What?" Tayuya said in shock as she snapped her attention to Naruto with a glare. "Ramen? I thought you were eating healthy! You mean to tell me you've been sneaking and eating that shit for nearly every meal even after I fucking chewed you out?" She was fuming now as she restrained herself from pummeling the blonde. After the first few months of their trip she had noticed he ate nothing but ramen all the time. To make him start having a more well-rounded diet she did the logical thing, she threw out all of his instant ramen and chewed him out for not eating right.

Naruto froze. He knew he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Looking to Inari for defense all he got was a 'Sorry-Nii-san-You-Brought-It-On-Yourself' face. Out of options he did the one thing all men would do when faced with an angry woman and no other way out. "Y-Y-You look so c-cute today Tayuya-cha-ACK!" He was cut off by the redhead's hands wrapping around his throat.

She proceeded to throttle him in broad daylight, earning a few confused stares from the passing civilians. Sakura watched unsure of whether to break it up or pretend she wasn't with the pair. She leaned next to Inari's ear and whispered, "Are they always like this?"

Inari laughed a bit as he watched his two sibling-figures' comical fight. "Yeah, pretty much. They argue a lot, Nii-san likes to tease Tayuya-nee, and Tayuya-nee tends to get violent with Nii-san, but I think they both actually really like each other quite a bit." The boy whispered as Tayuya finally stopped choking Naruto and turned her back to him, giving him the cold shoulder as he comically tried to catch his breath and apologize at the same time.

Sakura's eyes widened hearing the boy's words. "You mean, like each other as in…"

"I think so. Neither one has come out and said it but they actually act like a couple most of the time." Inari explained to which Sakura nodded.

The pinkette had mixed feelings hearing that. True she loved Sasuke and that would never change but being away from Naruto for so long she felt an emptiness in her heart. More so than what she felt with Sasuke gone. Not having him there to ask her on dates or tell her how pretty she was or just annoy her daily. She had come to realize that she had treated Naruto very poorly back in the old days and was now ashamed of it. He had been nothing but nice to her. Hell, she had more reasons to be in love with Naruto than she did to be with Sasuke. _'Come to think of it, Naruto has gotten pretty cute… And I bet he's developed quite a bit of muscle tone now with that training trip… And why is it I have an urge to stroke his whisker marks?... No! Can't think about that Sakura, you love Sasuke! He is your one and only!'_ She thought to herself as she tried to shake the thoughts of Naruto out of her head. She frowned as the blonde and Tayuya walked up to join her and Inari.

Naruto was rubbing the back of his head nervously while looking at a now only slightly pissed Tayuya, arms crossed and frowning as she glanced/glared at him occasionally. Inari smirked at the two as they rejoined the group. "You guys done flirting around now?" He asked teasingly.

As he expected they both blushed and yelled, "We weren't flirting!/fucking flirting!" Realizing they spoke in unison the two teens' eyes widened and they looked at each other before looking away quickly, blushing even deeper.

"If you say so." Inari said with a laugh.

After getting over Naruto and Tayuya's scuffle (flirting) the group moved on. They arrived at a small ramen stand with a banner reading 'Ichiraku Ramen' hanging on the front of the stand. Naruto teared up as he ran straight into the stand and jumped into a seat in the blink of an eye, causing the other three in attendance to sweatdrop at his eagerness. Nonetheless they joined him and took a seat inside the stand to find Naruto chatting with a man and young brunette woman behind the counter.

"Naruto! This is wonderful, my best customer is back!" Teuchi exclaimed upon seeing the blonde.

"I'm home!" Naruto tearfully exclaimed.

"Naruto-kun! It's about time you got back!" Ayame said as she patted the boy on the head. Naruto just closed his eyes and smiled as though he was in heaven as his mouth watered from the thought of eating ramen.

Tayuya saw this and grew a tick mark as the older girl patted the blonde's head and he made a dreamy face. _'Who the hell is this bitch?'_ She thought to herself as she held in her anger.

Sakura was also staring at the display a bit peeved. _'I've been by here a few times but I didn't know this girl and Naruto were so close.' _She thought as Teuchi placed a large bowl of ramen in front of Naruto, not even needing to ask for the blonde's order.

Inari marveled at the size of the bowl as Naruto instantly began digging in. Sakura felt sick watching him eat so fast and Tayuya got frustrated. She smacked him lightly on the back of the head. "Slow down shithead, that ramen ain't going anywhere." She scolded. "I know how you eat ramen and you ain't got enough money left to demolish twenty bowls and still treat all of us damnit. Eating slower will make you get full faster."

"Yes Tayuya-chan." He said obediently as he started eating slower. Sakura, Teuchi, and Ayame blinked, surprised that someone appeared that could actually keep Naruto under control to the point of making him eat his ramen slower.

'_She's truly an amazing person!' _Sakura and Ayame thought as Naruto casually ate his ramen.

"Naruto!" A familiar voice called from behind catching everyone's attention.

Said blonde turned around to see a large boy with long brown hair and wearing a red suit with armor that had the kanji for food on it. He stared for a second before it clicked who he was looking at. "Chouji?"

"I can't believe it, you're really back! The guys are gonna be thrilled to hear this." The brown haired boy said before turning back around and calling out to someone outside of the stand. "Shikamaru, Kiba, Ino, you won't believe this!"

Naruto smiled hearing the names of his companions and turned around so that he could see their faces when they walked in and saw him. A few moments later a blonde girl dressed in a revealing purple outfit walked in followed by a boy with spikey brown hair and red fang-like marks on his face.

"What is it Chouji? You dragged us out here coz you wanted to eat and- Naruto?" Ino exclaimed in shock.

Kiba blinked before grinning at the blonde. "Naruto you're back!" The Inuzuka said. He then caught sight of the redhead sitting next to the blonde and a perverted grin crept on his face. "And who is this?"

"Get lost fucking dog-breath." Tayuya spat as she flipped the Inuzuka the bird. Kiba was shocked by her response but just crossed his arms and growled in anger.

"Tayuya-chan!" Naruto said with a frown. The redhead gave him a 'don't-fuck-with-me-right-now- or-you'll-experience-something-worse-than-hell' look and he instantly shut up.

Ino looked to see Sakura sitting on the other side of Naruto and next to Inari. "Oh, Sakura. You're back from your mission? And who's the kid?" She asked pointing at Inari.

"That's Inari, he's my apprentice!" Naruto declared with a grin. Inari waved sheepishly.

"Geez, you guys just ran off in some big hurry, how troublesome." A familiar voice said from outside the stand. Naruto lit up hearing the voice while Tayuya tensed. After a couple of seconds a boy with dark hair in a pineapple style ponytail wearing a chuunin vest walked in. His eyes widened as he noticed Naruto among the group of people in the stand. "Naruto, you're-" He stopped as he saw Tayuya and quickly made a handsign. Tayuya also leapt out of her seat and pulled out her flute. "You again? How troublesome."

Tayuya scowled at the pineapple-haired teen. "I've been waiting for this for a long time pineapple bastard!"

The two prepared to make a move before they each felt something sharp on the back of their necks. To everyone but Inari's surprise, Naruto had made two clones that had managed to get behind the two without them noticing and now held a kunai to the back of their necks. The real Naruto narrowed his eyes dangerously. "Let's stop right here. Shikamaru, Tayuya-chan is an ally of Konoha now. It's even been cleared by baa-chan. And Tayuya-chan, Shikamaru is one of my good friends and an ally. You two best put the toys away before I get angry ok?" He said the last part with a smile.

Tayuya did as the blonde said instantly, knowing how he gets when he's seriously angry. Seeing her put her flute away Shikamaru also dropped out of his stance. Seeing them relax Naruto grinned and turned around to Teuchi and Ayame behind the counter. "Alright let me get another bowl!" He exclaimed, making everyone sweatdrop.

* * *

After eating at Ichiraku's and introducing the others to Tayuya and Inari, Naruto, Tayuya, Sakura, and Inari went to the Third Training Ground to get some training in for the day. The rest of the group had left to go about their own duties after catching up for a bit with Naruto. Tayuya rolled her eyes. _'So I finally meet these friends of his and they're a fatass, a Pineapple-teme, a Dog-Fucker, Bimbo, and…'_ She trailed off as she glanced at Sakura. _'I guess Pinky is alright though.'_ She thought to herself.

As they walked to the training field Naruto heard a familiar voice call out to him. Curious the group turned around to find a young boy with spikey brown hair wearing a long blue scarf along with a pale green jacket and grey pants running towards him, the boy was followed closely by another boy and a young girl. The three skidded to a halt in front of Naruto.

"Boss!" The one with the scarf yelled.

Naruto's eyes widened as he recognized the boy. "Konohamaru! Udon, Moegi!"

Konohamaru smirked triumphantly seeing that Naruto recognized him. "Glad to have you back boss! Now I can show you the results of my training." Konohamaru said narrowing his eyes.

Naruto smirked and crossed his arms and laughed. "Alright, show me how much you've grown."

Tayuya and Inari exchanged a confused look, completely lost on what was going on. Sakura on the other hand just frowned and addressed the two. "H-Hey! You two aren't gonna do this right here are you? If you're gonna fight you can atleast-"

They didn't wait for the pinkette to finish as Konohamaru made a handsign and yelled, "Orioke no jutsu! (Sexy Jutsu)" Tayuya's and Sakura's jaws dropped as Konohamaru transformed into a beautiful nude brunette surrounded by a very thin cloud of smoke covering just the essentials. Inari gasped as his nose bled a little bit.

In a poof, Konohamaru returned to normal and smirked at the blonde. "So what do you think boss? It's improved a lot right?" The brunette asked.

Naruto frowned and walked over to Konohamaru, placing a hand on his shoulder. His face was emotionless as he spoke. "Konohamaru, I've grown up since I invented that technique. I don't use it anymore and neither should you." He said with a frown. Konohamaru visibly deflated as Tayuya, Inari, and Sakura were shocked by his maturity. They were all proud that Naruto rose above such perverted tricks and was now standing as a respectable young man, that is until Naruto shattered all those delusions when he smirked and said, "I've created a new, even more perverted technique! The ultimate erotic ninju-YOOOOWWWWW!" He yelled out in pain as a punch from both Tayuya and Sakura sent him flying through the air and into a building. Konohamaru, Inari, and Udon watched in shock and horror as the girls walked over to Naruto and yanked him out of the ground then drug him back over to the group.

"Nii-san!"

"Boss!"

The three boys all rushed over to help the blonde while Tayuya, Sakura, and Moegi gathered together to talk about the perverseness of the boys.

"Seriously, that fucking Shithead. Acting all cool just to say something like that, idiot!" Tayuya said with a tick mark.

Sakura nodded in agreement. "And on top of that encouraging kids to follow his example!" The pinkette said angrily.

Moegi shook her head in disappointment. "Boys are such perverts!" The two older girls both agreed.

Once the boys helped Naruto back on his feet the group once again began heading for the training field, this time followed by Konohamaru and his team. Naruto glanced back at the younger shinobi to see Konohamaru glancing at Inari as they walked on. Inari didn't seem to notice.

The group arrived at the training grounds to find them empty and decided to get started. Naruto pointed to Inari. "Inari! Since I'm going on a mission soon let's get some training in."

"Hai, Nii-san!" Inari responded, earning a few raised eyebrows from Konohamaru's group. As Inari ran out and stood opposite of Naruto so that they were facing each other with good distance between them, Konohamaru tugged on Sakura's shirt to get her attention.

"Hey Nee-chan, who's that kid?" He asked curiously.

"That's Inari. Me and Naruto met him in the Land of Waves on our first C-Rank mission and Naruto made him his apprentice during his training trip." Sakura explained with a smile. The entire group minus Naruto and Inari was watching the battle from a safe distance away as per Naruto's instructions.

Konhamaru's eyes widened in shock. "WHAT? But Boss is our master!" He said angrily as he glared at the boy.

Naruto smiled confidently as he dropped into a stance. Inari mimicked his expression and dropped into his own stance. "Alright I want you to fight me in Stage 1. We'll try to get your body more used to fighting in that form so you can eventually use Stage 2." The blonde instructed.

Following his orders Inari drew some chakra from the seal and it slowly begun to spread until there were spirals all over his arms and face. Once he had entered Stage 1 he went on the attack. The brunette dashed towards the blonde and threw his fist at blonde's face. Naruto anticipated his attack and caught Inari's fist, pulling it toward him and smashing his elbow into the boy's face.

The force from the elbow sent Inari onto his back but the boy used the momentum to roll backwards and stood back to his feet as he went through some quick handsigns. "Katon: Cho Endan!" The boy yelled as he expelled a large fireball from his mouth that quickly increased in size. Naruto smirked as the attack closed in on him.

At the last minute Naruto made a clone that grabbed him by the arm and threw him into the air, out of the fireball's path. In midair he made another clone that grabbed his ankles and slung him towards Inari. The blonde grinned as it was his time to go on the offensive. He brought his hands into a cross shaped handsign and yelled out, "Taijuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Instantly the sky was full of a few hundred Naruto's all rapidly approaching Inari with a grin.

Acting quickly, Inari threw some shuriken at the group of clones then made a handsign. "Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" The shuriken then multiplied into many and took out quite a few of the clones. It did not however, take out enough as the rest closed in on Inari and crashed hard into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust and forming a crater.

When the dust cleared, the real Naruto stood with his arms crossed as Inari shakily stood up. The blonde smirked as he watched his apprentice trying to catch his breath. "Had enough already?" He asked.

Inari spat out some blood that had gathered in his mouth and returned the blonde's smirk with one of his own. "Not a chance!" He yelled as he poured some chakra into a seal on his wrist and his Katana instantly appeared in his hand. "I'm just getting warmed up."

"Someone's cocky today." Naruto said with a grin as Inari charged him. Seeing him go for a horizontal slice Naruto ducked under it and executed a leg sweep that took out the younger shinobi's legs. Inari recovered quickly and launched himself back towards the blonde for another attack.

"Mikazukishiki: Shizukame! (Crescent Moon Style: Quiet Turtle)" Inari yelled as his blade glowed with chakra and he lashed out at the blonde, rapidly slashing at high speeds in a combination that ended with a vertical slice which managed to make contact with the jinchuuriki. Inari smirked as he saw the cut his sword had left across Naruto's right shoulder and along his chest.

Naruto frowned a bit as the attack made contact. _'Everytime he uses that sword I end up having to buy new clothes…" _The blonde thought to himself as he created some distance between him and Inari. Inari wouldn't let that happen however, as he charged the blonde in an attempt to keep the fight close range.

The short amount of time Naruto had before Inari made his way over however ended up being just enough time as the blonde made a few handsigns then thrusted his hands out towards the brunette. "Fuuton: Kyōfū! (Wind Release: High Winds)" He shouted as a blast of wind jutted out from his hands and knocked Inari off his feet, sending him flying back.

Inari managed to pick himself up in time to be met with one of Naruto's fists burying itself in his face, sending him back down on the ground. This time Naruto grabbed him before he could get away and held a kunai to his throat. He smiled at the boy. "6 minutes and 12 seconds. That's about a minute longer than your last time." He said.

"We're not done." Inari said getting a raised eyebrow from Naruto. The blonde's eyes widened when Inari began to glow and he jumped to get off of him but was too late. The glowing brunette exploded into flames and Naruto heard the real Inari's voice yell, "Katon: Bunshin Daibukaha! (Fire Release: Clone Great Explosion)"

The spectators were shocked by the sudden move from Inari and watched as Naruto emerged from the flames, charred and with his jacket completely burned off. His skin was black in places and he had burns all over his body but the Kyuubi's chakra went right to work on healing them. Naruto now had a serious expression as he looked around the clearing, trying to pinpoint Inari's location.

"Not bad Inari, you caught me off guard there but I'll end this now." The blonde said as he felt a sudden flare of chakra from behind him. He turned to see Inari emerge from a tree and yell, "Katon: Byakuen Ryuudan! (Fire Release: White Flame Dragon Bullet)" Naruto's eyes widened as Inari opened his mouth and shot out a stream of white fire that took the form of a dragon and approached at high speeds.

Tayuya's jaw dropped as she watched the move the boy had used. "No way!" She exclaimed getting the others' attention. "That technique, even I haven't been able to learn that one yet! That little brat!" She said with a small smile.

The attack collided and enveloped the entire area around where Naruto had been in white flames. Inari was panting for breath after using that move. He smiled to himself, confident in his victory. Even Naruto would have trouble getting up from both his Katon: Daibakuha and Katon: Byakuen Ryuudan back to back. He watched the white flames begin to extinguish slowly and looked for any sign of his master. To his surprise when the flames were gone there was no trace of the blonde. He looked around for a moment before realization hit him.

"Not bad Inari." Naruto said getting everyone's attention. Inari turned around to see Naruto behind him and holding a rasengan. He was enveloped in an aura of wind. "If it wasn't for my Fuuton no Yoroi (Wind Release Armor) that would've been pretty bad."

Inari quickly took a step back and formed his own rasengan. Using the boost in speed from his Fuuton no Yoroi, Naruto closed the distance between him and the boy in a flash. Their rasengans collided with one another, each struggling to push the other back. It was a lost cause for Inari though as vast as Naruto's chakra reserves were and with himself being exhausted. Naruto easily overpowered Inari's rasengan and sent the boy flying into the water nearby.

Konohamaru and his team were amazed by all that they had seen. Sakura was shocked that Inari had grown so strong in being a shinobi for only three years and also by Naruto's Fuuton no Yoroi and how fast it allowed him to move. Tayuya was impressed, she'd expected Naruto to win the whole time but she was pleasantly surprised by Inari's growth. He'd become like a little brother to her so she was happy to see him getting stronger.

Inari pulled himself out of the water and stood on it using his chakra. To everyone's surprise he dropped into a fighting stance again as he was gasping for breath. Naruto's eyes narrowed as he saw that the boy's spiral marking began to glow red and started to cover his body. Acting quickly he activated his Fuuton no Yoroi and appeared in front of the boy with his right hand cocked back. "Fuujin no Tensho! (Wind God's Heavenly Palm)" He said as he slammed a palm filled with wind chakra into Inari's chest that sent him flying and ripped a hole in both the front and back of his shirt-robe from the force of the wind chakra. He landed with a thud next to Tayuya and the others.

Naruto used his Fuuton no Yoroi to appear by the boy's side in a flash. "Sakura-chan!" The blonde said as he looked up at the pinkette.

"I'm on it!" She responded as she knelt down and begun healing the boy's injuries with her medical ninjutsu.

Tayuya raised a curious eyebrow as she watched Naruto pull out a scroll and bit his thumb before making a complex seal in his blood.

"Shithead, what is that?" She asked as he knelt down next to Inari as well and closed the scroll.

"I'm suppressing his Cursed Seal. It's growing unstable and I think it's trying to activate on its own. He almost went into Stage 2 in our spar." He explained as removed the boy's shirt and placed a hand on the seal. "Fūinjutsu: Juutori Fuin. (Sealing Technique: Ten Birds Seal)" He said as his hand glowed blue for a moment and a new seal enveloped the Cursed Seal. When he pulled his hand away Inari's seal had a diamond shape around it with four runes outside the diamond.

Tayuya's eyes widened. "Isn't that the same seal Hentai-sensei used on my Cursed Seal?" The redhead asked.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, but I modified this one a bit. He should have easier control of it now… I also added a seal that'll alert me when he goes beyond Stage 1 and a seal to render him unconscious if he gets out of hand." He explained as Sakura finished healing some of the boy's wounds.

Sakura looked at him in shock. "You mean you were able to make a seal that complex in just under a minute?" She asked amazed.

"Shithead is a Fūinjutsu Master after all." Tayuya explained with a smirk. Naruto blushed a bit at the compliment.

"Master? Seriously?" Sakura asked shocked that Naruto had become so skilled with seals.

The blonde rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah. Ero-sennin said we should become more well-rounded both as a team and as individuals so I learned some Fūinjutsu while Inari learned Sensor ninjutsu and Tayuya learned some Barrier ninjutsu. I wasn't sure about learning something not directly offensive at that time but the skills we learned have actually been pretty useful."

Tayuya nodded in agreement. "Yeah his seals and my barriers have gotten us out of plenty of tight spots. Hell, even the brat's sensor abilities have helped quite a bit. For once Hentai-sensei did something useful." She said with a laugh.

Konohamaru and his group were surprised to hear that Naruto had become so proficient with Fūinjutsu. Seeing that battle between Naruto and Inari and then hearing Naruto call it just a 'spar' shocked them. Deciding to ask the biggest question on his mind Konohamaru addressed Naruto, "Boss, I gotta know, how much were you holding back right there?"

Naruto thought for a second. "Well I didn't use any of my good moves other than Fuuton no Yoroi. That was the first time I've used it against Inari in a spar. I held back quite a bit though since it was only a spar."

Konohamaru's group was shocked. "So even with all that you were holding back?"

Naruto laughed lightly. "Yep. If you thought that was something you should see a spar with me and Tayuya-chan. She's about as strong as I am."

"About?" Tayuya said with a laugh to which Naruto frowned and turned to her.

"Hey last time I checked our record in spars I had 27 wins, 14 losses, and 6 draws." He stated proudly.

Tayuya grew a tick mark. "Yeah but I won the last two spars and the won before those two was a draw so right now I'm stronger!" She protested.

"I let you win those spars and we only had a draw the last time because I was fighting on an empty stomach!" He defended himself.

"Yeah right, you just don't wanna admit that I can kick your ass anytime." She said with a smirk.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Well if you-" He was cut off when, to everyone's surprise, a lion made of ink appeared and attacked him out of nowhere. He ducked under the attack and punched the beast, destroying it. He spun around to see a boy about his age standing in the clearing with a scroll and a paintbrush. He was wearing a short black shirt that cut off at his stomach under a black jacket that was as long as the shirt and black pants. Beside him were two beasts made from ink.

Naruto activated his Fuuton no Yoroi and rushed at the boy. The boy's eyes widened when instantly Naruto was in front of him with two clones at his side. The clones took out his beasts while Naruto connected with an uppercut that sent the boy into the air.

The others watched in awe as Naruto leapt into the air and appeared behind the mysterious person then cocked his hand back and said, "Fuujin no Tensho!" He smashed his palm into the boy's back and it sent him rocketing into the earth below, forming a crater.

Naruto landed next to the crater and deactivated his armor of wind. He narrowed his eyes as the boy in the crater turned into ink. The others rushed over ready for a fight only to see that the mysterious boy was reduced to a puddle of ink.

"An ink clone?" Sakura said examining the ink.

"Fucking coward. Sending clones to do his dirty work." Tayuya said with a small laugh.

Suddenly Naruto whipped out a kunai and threw it to his left. The kunai whizzed by Udon and Sakura and imbedded itself in a tree behind them. Everyone froze.

"Come out!" Naruto demanded.

The group turned their attention to the tree were the kunai had been imbedded to see the mysterious boy come out from behind the tree.

"My, my Naruto-kun. Finding my hiding place like that, you're very perceptive aren't you?" The boy said with a smile as he stepped out from behind the trees.

Naruto frowned as he looked towards the boy. "Maybe you aren't perceptive enough." He stated as he made a one-handed handseal. The boy's eyes widened and he turned to see that the kunai imbedded in the tree behind him had an explosive tag on it. _'Too slow!'_ Naruto thought as the dark haired boy tried to escape.

The boy wasn't fast enough however to escape the explosion and was sent rolling several yards before he picked himself up. When he looked up he was met with the sight of a redhead wielding a sword and swinging at him. Acting quickly he was able to block her strike with his tanto. He leapt back into the trees and knelt down on a branch.

"It seems we underestimated you Naruto-kun. We will meet again." He said before he shunshined away.

"Damn it!" Tayuya yelled as she resealed her sword. "Just when I thought I was finally gonna get a little action… What a pussy."

Naruto frowned as he pondered the boy's words. Something was off. The boy had been wearing a Konoha headband so he was either from Konoha or was a spy. But the chances are a spy wouldn't attack like that in broad daylight and with a large group of people present, atleast a good spy wouldn't anyway. The question was what did he want with Naruto?

"Nii-san?" Inari called from where they had left him as he started to rise up. Naruto walked over to his side and helped him up. "What did I miss?"

* * *

After a few days of getting settled in their new house and getting a bit of training in, the day had come for the mission in the Land of Grass. The remainder of Team Kakashi plus Tayuya was at the front gate along with Inari and Jiraiya. Inari was currently pouting about not being able to go on the mission with them while Naruto and Jiraiya were having a private conversation.

"Remember Naruto, you're biggest weakness is your emotions. Try to keep yourself under control alright?" The Toad Sannin said as he spoke with his apprentice.

"Yeah, yeah I know Ero-Sennin." Naruto said brushing it off. Jiraiya raised an eyebrow and Naruto smiled. "Come on, I'm a lot stronger now. Don't worry so much!"

Jiraiya sighed as he clutched his head. "It's that cocky attitude of yours that makes me worry. Tayuya," He called getting the Redhead's attention. She walked over to the two and Jiraiya handed her two pieces of paper with seals on them. "If he gets out of hand you know what to do." He whispered.

"I got it Hentai-sensei." The redhead said as she put the seals in her weapon pouch.

Jiraiya grew a tick mark. "'Ero-sennin' 'Hentai-sensei', you kids should really learn some respect." He said shaking his head.

Tayuya and Naruto sweatdropped as they both thought, _'Super Perverts are to be respected?'_

Naruto walked over to Inari and ruffled his hair. "Alright apprentice, train hard while I'm gone. Don't be afraid to ask some of my friends like Neji or Kiba for help. And uh, no looking in my secret stash under my bed… Actually, I think I might have left one of my magazines laying in my room so make sure you put it up before we get back. Tayuya-chan will kill me!" The blonde said with a shiver.

Inari gave him thumbs up as he chuckled. "You got it Nii-san." He said while thinking, _'I'm gonna make sure to put it in Tayuya-nee's room. I'm sure she'll be happy to hear your explanation for that.'_

Tayuya glared over at the two boys sensing they were talking about something strange. "Hey, what the hell are you talking about over there?"

Naruto stiffened before he jumped up and smiled desperately. "N-Nothing! I was just telling Inari to watch the house while we're gone is all! Hahahahahahaha…."

Tayuya raised an eyebrow at him before walking over to Inari and whispering in his ear seriously, "Are you gonna be alright alone?"

Inari blushed and looked away. "Come on Tayuya-nee, I'm not a kid. I can handle being home alone for a few days." He whispered so no one would hear him.

Tayuya looked at him skeptically for a moment before smiling softly and ruffling his hair. "Alright brat, just remember not to stay up too late or eat too much junk food. And don't go pushing yourself too hard in training!"

Inari brushed her hand away in embarassment. "Geez Kaa-san I-" He froze realizing what he said. He covered his mouth in surprise as Tayuya raised an eyebrow. "S-Sorry Tayuya-nee… I just… It felt like I was-"

"It's alright." She said with a smile. "I get it."

Inari blushed, embarrassed by his mistake. Tayuya gave the boy one last pat on the head and turned around to see Naruto, Kakashi, and Sakura waiting for her at the gate.

"Let's go already Tayuya-chan!" Naruto yelled as she walked over.

The redhead grew a tick mark as she made her way over and clonked Naruto on the head. "Shut up Shithead! We were talking about something important."

"Everyone ready?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes."

"Yeah!"

"Fuck yeah!"

"Then let's move out." The copy nin said as the team of four started down the path to the Grass Country.

Inari watched them go with a frown. Despite what he had said, it would be weird not having Naruto and Tayuya around for a few nights. He thought about how he had called Tayuya 'Kaa-san' on accident. It was embarrassing but despite her foul-mouth and harsh disposition, she had actually been quite motherly to him over the past few years. He thought for a moment what life would be like if Naruto and Tayuya were his parents before quickly dismissing it and blushing at the thought. He sighed as he turned around and looked at the Hokage mountain. It was gonna be a long week.

* * *

**_Author's Note: _**_Sorry if I've made this fic focus too much on Inari recently, I just wanted to try to get across the relationship between him and Naruto and Tayuya. I promise I'll give more attention to Naruto and Tayuya from now on, I just felt the need to give Inari a little spotlight to show some of his character traits and whatnot. Hope this chapter is up to par with the others, it was mostly written on spur of inspiration in one night. Anyway, things are gonna pick up from here. Next chapter is the mission in the land of Grass. I also want to say that this will be a solely NaruTayu fic. I WILL however, give Tayuya a little competition for our blonde hero's heart. And who knows, maybe I'll have someone else fall for the redheaded beauty as well. What's love without some obstacles right? Leave a review and let me know what you think._


	6. The Battle of Tenchi Bridge

**Symphony of Fate**

_Chapter 5: The Battle of Tenchi Bridge_

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**Author's Note: _Sorry this chapter took me a while. I wrote half of it a couple of weeks ago and just got around to finishing it yesterday. Tried to upload it earlier but my power went out for 6 hours and just came back on -_-. Thought about trying to find someone to draw a cover page for this story since I can't draw for shit but the few friends I have with artistic ability don't even know what Naruto is lol. Oh well, maybe I'll scrape something together someday. Anyway, enjoy, read and review please!_**

**___Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Naruto and all of its characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto._**

* * *

The sound of the wind blowing was all that could be heard at the Tenchi Bridge. The wind was a strong one that blew a few leaves off of some of the surrounding trees leaving them to dance around in the air. Not far from the bridge, Naruto, Tayuya, and Sakura crouched behind a bush. The high wind would work to their advantage by covering their scent and sound so that they were less likely to be noticed and could follow through with their instructions.

Hearing the chiming of bells, Naruto and company turned their heads to see a very short and very round man wearing a black cloak with red clouds. On his head was a conical straw hat on his head with many paper ornaments and tassels that covered his face partially. The man was walking down the path not far from the group that led to the bridge.

Naruto looked back to Tayuya and Sakura and the three exchanged a silent nod before turning their attention to a figure that had just arrived on the other side of the bridge. The figure wore a dark purple hooded robe that obscured his face. Slowly the two figures made their way to the bridge and approached each other.

"I just hope he falls for Kakashi-sensei's transformation jutsu." Sakura whispered a bit unsure that their plan would work.

Naruto grinned at the pinkette. "Don't worry Sakura-chan, he was captured the moment he stepped on the bridge." The blonde said quietly with a confident grin.

Tayuya nodded in agreement. "Yeah, there's no way anybody could get away with the traps Shithead placed." The former sound kunoichi said as she studied the mysterious hooded figure. _'But to think there was a traitor amongst Pedo-Snake's henchmen faggots. I can't wait to see the look on that bastard's face when we kill his necrophiliac ass in his own base!'_

Meanwhile on the bridge Kakashi, who was transformed into Sasori, finally met the figure in the middle of the bridge. The two stood silent for a moment before Kakashi asked, "Were you followed?"

The figure removed his hood to reveal familiar silver hair and spectacles. Kabuto Yakushi. "No. It's just you and me." He said after checking over his shoulder.

"How do you feel?" Kakashi-Sasori asked.

"Once your jutsu was broken I had a strange sensation and remembered who I was Sasori-sama. I'm still a bit out of it though."

Naruto, Tayuya, and Sakura were shocked to see the man remove his hood and reveal himself to be none other than Kabuto. Naruto gritted his teeth as he looked at the silver haired man. "Damn it," He said.

"Kabuto!" Sakura exclaimed quietly, enraged to see the man again.

A sadistic smile crossed Tayuya's face. "It would be that fucker! Must be our lucky day to get the fucker's right hand bitch!" She said while popping her knuckles.

Kakashi-Sasori narrowed his eyes at the bespectacled man. "I have a number of questions for you."

Kabuto frowned and glanced behind himself. "Alright but I don't have much time, my life is on the line just by being here."

"I want to know about Sasuke Uchiha and the location of Orochimaru's hideout."

"We have a number of hideouts all over the hidden nations. Our main base in Oto but currently we're based on an island in the lake just north of here. Sasuke Uchiha is also on that island."

'_That lake is just a few miles from here. Looks like we're in luck.'_ Kakashi thought to himself before being interrupted by Kabuto.

"Also, about the task you gave me," Kabuto started with an apologetic look. "I was unable perform any data analysis on the corpse, Orochimaru cast a jutsu on it after his transmigration in order to protect it."

Naruto frowned at the amount of time the two were spending on the bridge. "This is starting to take too long. Kakashi-sensei should wrap this up quick."

"Well it is Kabuto we're talking about. You can't be too careful." Sakura said.

Meanwhile Kabuto once again turned and glanced behind himself. "On that note, the item we talked about," The silver haired man said while extending his hand.

Naruto's eyes widened. "He's asking for an item! We need to act now." The blonde said as he formed a handseal.

'_This isn't good, my cover is going to be blown already. Guess I'll have to-'_ Kakashi's thoughts were interrupted when a blue light began shining all over the bridge. Kabuto took a step back in surprise but it was too late as the light shrank into a blue orb that enveloped only Kabuto. The orb shrank into Kabut, fusing with him and causing a kanji for seal to appear on his forehead.

In that instant Kakashi dispelled his transformation jutsu. Kabuto attempted to flee but was shocked to find that his muscles wouldn't move at all. "Kakashi! What is this jutsu?"

Three figures landed beside Kakashi and Kabuto's eyes widened as he saw not only Naruto and Sakura but Tayuya now standing before him. Naruto frowned as he walked right up to Kabuto and got in his face. "Don't resist. I've placed a two layered seal on you. I've not only sealed your chakra but I've placed a binding seal on you as well so you won't be able to move as long as you're standing in that circle." The blonde explained as he pointed to Kabuto's feet. Kabuto's eyes shifted to the ground below him to see a black rotating circle with several intersecting triangles inside it.

"Why you-" He started but was stopped when Naruto stabbed a kunai into his leg.

Kakashi's and Sakura's eyes widened. "Naruto! We have to capture him alive!" Sakura exclaimed.

Naruto smiled at the pain on Kabuto's face sadistically as he answered them. "I know, that's why I stabbed him in the leg. That and it's probably pretty painful to have a wound like that and not be able to move from standing on it."

Tayuya grinned at Naruto showing a bit of his darker side. Normally she didn't like him being like this but she hated Orochimaru and anyone associated with him, especially Kabuto.

Kakashi just frowned at his student's actions. _'It seems like he's become somewhat of a sadist.'_ The copy ninja thought to himself. He watched as Tayuya walked over to their prisoner next and lightly pushed Naruto to the side.

"No, you gotta make it more painful Shithead. Like this!" She exclaimed as she kneed Kabuto square in the balls. The silver haired shinobi gasped as an extremely unpleasant sensation spread throughout his whole body.

Kakashi's eyes were the size of dinner plates and now even Naruto was a bit frightened as the redhead laughed proudly at her accomplishment. Sakura's jaw dropped at the display.

'_And it would seem she may be the cause of this new side of Naruto…'_ Kakashi thought with a sweatdrop. "Alright, let's knock him out so we can get him back to the village." The silver haired jonin instructed the team.

"I'll do it!" Tayuya exclaimed before being grabbed from behind by Naruto who held her back.

Naruto held Tayuya back as she decided she wanted to be the one to knock Kabuto out. Naruto laughed sheepishly and looked at Kakashi, "Sorry Kakashi-sensei. How about you use one of your Sharingan genjutsus on him?" The blonde suggested as he restrained Tayuya.

Kakashi sighed and lifted up his headband revealing his Sharingan. He walked up to Kabuto but was surprised when someone appeared beside the spectacled spy in a puff of smoke.

"My, my, don't leave me out of all the fun." A familiar voice said from beside Kabuto. Said silver haired spy sighed in relief. The atmosphere changed immediately as the team laid eyes on the man before them, Orochimaru of the Sannin.

Naruto instantly released Tayuya and shifted so that he was now standing in front of her protectively, his chakra blades drawn. Tayuya's eyes widened while Sakura and Kakashi glared at the Snake Sannin.

"Oh my, quite the reunion we have here isn't it, Tayuya-chan?" Orochimaru said with a smile directed at the redhead.

Tayuya's skin crawled feeling the man's gaze on her. Her body started to feel heavy and she could feel herself begin to sweat. Rapidly, her breaths began getting shorter and shakier. _'What's wrong with me? I thought I was ready for this, so why is it that I'm so… afraid?' _She wondered to herself as she looked down at her hands. She was trembling.

Orochimaru pulled Kabuto out of the circle that binded his movements and removed the chakra seal on his forehead, to which Kabuto thanked him before coating his hand in healing chakra and bringing it to his gonads. The Snake Sannin then smiled at Naruto who's eyes were red from the Kyuubi's influence. "Naruto-kun, you've grown. To be able to use such seals at your age is impressive. However I wonder if you could compare to Sasuke-kun-"

"Don't you ever say his name! You don't have the fucking right to speak his name in front of me bastard!" Naruto yelled, finally snapping.

Orochimaru chuckled at how easy it was to get a response from the boy. He was about to say something else when he noticed Tayuya trembling behind Naruto with wide eyes. He smiled wickedly. "What's wrong Tayuya-chan? Hiding behind Naruto-kun because you're too afraid to-"

He was cut off when Naruto was instantly inches away from him, his hand cocked back and covered in wind chakra. Orochimaru had no time to react as the blonde slammed his palm into the Sannin's gut, sending him flying across the bridge. Kabuto stared at the blonde in astonishment.

"Don't… fucking… talk to her…" Naruto growled through gritted teeth as he looked off in the direction he had sent Orochimaru flying. Several trees had collapsed and there was a rut in the ground from where he had skidded across it.

Tayuya was speechless at the display. She knew Naruto was fast but that he was able to catch Orochimaru off guard surprised even her. And she was also a bit flustered by the way he had protected her but the situation was too serious to think about that now. _'Damn it, pull it together! Why am I being such a pussy?' _Tayuya thought to herself in frustration. She grabbed her thighs and squeezed them in an attempt to make them stop shaking as she took a few shaky deep breaths.

Kabuto narrowed his eyes as he formed to chakra scalpels on either hand and rushed Naruto. "You brat!"

Naruto simply drew his chakra blades once more and in a flash he was standing behind Kabuto with his blades aglow with red chakra. "I don't have time to play with you Kabuto." He stated coldy as Kabuto's left arm fell to the ground.

The silver haired spy was trembling as he slowly looked to the ground beside him to see his own arm laying there. He cried out in pain before falling to his knees and vomiting. Kakashi, Sakura, and Tayuya looked on in shock.

However, everyone's attention soon shifted from Kabuto to Orochimaru as the Snake Sannin slowly walked back onto the bridge step by step. His face was peeling to reveal the face of his current host and he was covered in several bruises. The snake-like man stopped and smiled at Naruto as he placed his hand on his face and began fixing it. "Not bad Naruto-kun. But I don't believe it's as good as Sasuke-kun."

Naruto gritted his teeth as he lunged forward and lashed out at the snake with his chakra blades. The two went on for a while in close quarters combat with Naruto slashing at Orochimaru and Orochimaru dodging his attacks and throwing in one of his own every now and again. After ducking under a roundhouse kick, Naruto finally managed to slice the Sannin in half only for his body to reconnect itself using snakes.

Naruto growled as he took a step back to catch his breath. He had already used the Fuuton no Yoroi twice in quick bursts but it looked like he was going to have to do it again to win here. Sheathing his blades he formed a handsign. "Fuuton no Yoroi!" He yelled as he was enveloped by a stream of wind.

Orochimaru raised an eyebrow. "What an interesting jutsu." He said as he watched Naruto flicker out of sight and appear in front of him half a second later. The blonde lashed out with a vicious right hook that connected with the Sannin and sent him rolling off the bridge and to the land on the other side. Naruto pursued quickly.

He was met however with the Sannin opening his mouth and a snake shooting out with a sword in its mouth. The snake's sword pierced Naruto through the chest but the blonde soon disappeared in a puff of smoke. Orochimaru spun around to see Naruto, with a rasengan in his hand, mere inches away. The rasengan connected with the Snake Sannin's abdomen and sent him flying a great distance.

After the impact with the ground Orochimaru was left with a large circular wound on his abdomen, he recovered however by using his special substitution jutsu in which he opened his mouth and sheds his body like a snake would its skin, revealing himself to be unharmed. He smiled as he prepared to take off back in Naruto's direction but was stopped by a lightning coated hand piercing his chest.

Kakashi stood behind the Snake Sannin, his raikiri impaling the man. "Your opponent is me!" Kakashi exclaimed. To his surprise however the Orochimaru before him was nothing but a mud clone that melted into mud and then reformed itself a few feet away.

"If that's what you want Kakashi!" The clone exclaimed as it bit its finger and slammed its hand to the ground. "Kuchiyose no jutsu! (Summoning Jutsu)"

From the ground several large pythons erupted and restrained Kakashi, biting into his neck and shoulders. The copy nin cried out in pain.

Meanwhile a little ways away, Sakura and Tayuya had caught up with the real Orochimaru and Naruto. Naruto was going through a few handsigns after successfully landing a spinning back kick on the Sannin that sent him tumbling backwards. "Fuuton: Zeteikiatsu! (Wind Release: Absolute Cyclone)" He yelled as he shot his hands forward. A funnel of spiraling winds emerged from his hands and trapped Orochimaru inside, shredding him with many sharp blades of wind chakra.

A few trees were also shredded by the attack leaving the area scarred and kicking up a cloud of dust. When the dust cleared however, Orochimaru emerged. His clothes were torn and he was bleeding profusely, his legs had many gashes and cuts while his right hand was barely still attached to his body. The Snake Sannin chuckled as he approached the group. "You've gotten quite strong Naruto-kun. Maybe you would be a match for Sasuke-kun after all."

Naruto gritted his teeth but to his surprise Sakura was the one who rushed forward this time. She threw a powerful punch at the Sannin that connected with his abdomen and bashed him into the ground. The punch was so powerful that the ground beneath the Sannin cracked and a crater was formed as rocks and chunks of earth flew into the air from the sheer force of Sakura's punch.

Orochimaru's eyes rolled back into his head as if he had died. To the group's surprise however, his body then turned into many snakes that scattered and then reformed a few yards away. When the snakes gathered back together they formed into Orochimaru, his wounds all seemingly healed.

"Damn it!" Naruto growled. No matter what they did the calculating man seemed to manage to come out unscathed. "Tayuya-chan, let's try the Futekikei Keisei. (Fearless Execution Formation)" Naruto whispered to Tayuya.

The redhead's eyes widened for a moment as she looked into his serious red ones. After seeing his resolve she nodded in agreement. "Alright. Just give me a distraction." She instructed as she shifted to level two of her cursed seal. Level two made her skin a chocolaty brown and several horns sprouted on her head. It also made her hair a lighter shade of red, almost pink. Naruto had noted before that it also seemed to make her boobs and ass grow a little larger, but he was pretty sure that wouldn't help her here.

"Got it." Naruto said before turning his attention back on the pale man before him. He drew a kunai and breathed wind chakra onto it, covering the blade in sharp wind chakra that made it function as a sword now. He gripped the blade and used his Fuuton no Yoroi to move quickly over to Orochimaru.

Tayuya took the opportunity to leap into the trees while the Sannin's eyes were on the blonde. Sakura stood back as Naruto attempted to cut Orochimaru in half with his blade of wind chakra. He attacked with rapid succession but the more experienced shinobi was able to dodge each slash. Changing his tactics he fell back a few steps a dispelled the blade of wind. In a split second he fastened an explosive tag to the kunai in his hand and threw it at the Sannin's feet.

Orochimaru of course expertly leaped into the air to dodge the explosion that followed but was caught off guard when the Naruto on the ground disappeared in a puff of smoke. His eyes widened when a surge of pain hit him from behind and he turned his head to see Naruto thrusting a large rasengan into his back.

"Oodama Rasengan!" The red eyed blonde yelled as the attack sent Orochimaru rocketing towards the ground below, creating a large crater. Naruto landed with a smirk to see that he had injured the Sannin for real this time.

Shakily Orochimaru stood up and glared at the boy. "That brat! I'm going to have to start taking him seriously." He spoke to himself as he watched Sakura land next to Naruto. After a few seconds he realized someone was missing. Kakashi was being restrained by his mud clone so that means…

The Snake's eyes widened in realization but it was too late as he heard the words, "Suirō no Jutsu (Water Prison Jutsu)" The pale scientist was caught in an orb of water that was too heavy to allow him to move. He glared at the redhead who had caught him in this jutsu.

"Shithead!" Tayuya called signaling for the blonde's turn in their plan.

Naruto weaved through some handseals before thrusting a hand forward and saying, "Raiton: Rairyudan. (Lightning Release: Lightning Dragon Bullet)" Sparks of electricity gathered around the blonde before forming into the head of a dragon that rocketed towards the orb of water.

Orochimaru's eyes widened as her realized what their plan was. It was too late for him to act however, as the electric dragon slammed into the orb head on electrocuting the Snake Sannin inside. Tayuya was also electrocuted from having her hand in the orb to keep the jutsu up, once the attack was over though she dispelled into a puddle of water, proving herself to be a water clone. The real Tayuya landed beside Naruto and Sakura.

Orochimaru shakily stood up again, wheezing for breath as a few sparks of electricity still surged throughout his body. Naruto raised an eyebrow as he began coughing. His coughing soon escalated to the point where it sounded like he was choking on something and the group's eyes widened when he unhinged his jaw and a hand came out. Another hand soon followed and the two grabbed either side of the Snake Sannin's mouth, pushing themselves out from his insides.

Sakura wanted to throw up seeing the sight while Naruto and Tayuya had already caught on to the trick and just frowned. Naruto gritted his teeth as the Sannin once again emerged from his own body as though he was shedding his skin, revealing himself to be unharmed. Naruto's features began to grow more feral as he heard Orochimaru's chuckling again.

"I'm going to have to start taking you brats seriously. That was some trick." The Sannin praised much to their disgust.

Tayuya scowled at the man. "Fuck you pedophile! We're gonna kick your ass!" She exclaimed.

"Those are some pretty bold words Tayuya-chan, especially coming from a girl who was quivering in fear just a few moments ago." The pale man said as he licked his lips.

"Give him back…" Naruto whispered, his voice horse. The other three present turned their attention to him. Suddenly, he fell forward and landed on all fours. Sakura raised an eyebrow while Tayuya's eyes widened. Red chakra began to leak from out of his seal and cover him like a cloak, taking the form of a fox with two tails. His features grew more feral as he glared at Orochimaru and yelled, "GIVE HIM BACK!"

Orochimaru just studied the transformation with interest. "So this is the power of jinchuuriki… I'm afraid Sasuke-kun won't be coming back. We've just grown so attached to him. Besides, he came to me out of his own free will."

That was the last straw as Naruto rushed forward and hit Orochimaru sending him flying throught the air back towards the bridge.

At the bridge Kabuto had managed to get his nub of an arm to stop bleeding but was still feeling queasy from having his own arm severed. He sealed the severed appendage into a scroll to attempt to restore it later but was surprised when he heard something rocketing towards him from behind. He turned his head to see Orochimaru collide with the bridge, going straight through it and slamming into the cliff on the opposite side, embedding him in the wall.

"Orochimaru-sama!" Kabuto yelled in worry as he looked at his master. Orochimaru simply pulled himself from out of the rock, an amused grin on his face, and leapt off towards Naruto and company; leaving Kabuto alone once more with the now collapsing bridge.

Naruto howled as the Sannin landed in front of them again. Another tail began to grow from Naruto's chakra cloak, much to Tayuya's chagrin. "Shit." She muttered to herself as the third tail completely formed.

"Tayuya-san," Sakura said catching the redhead's attention. "What is that power?"

"That is the Kyuubi's power when it starts to take over Shithead's body. I need to stop it before it gets too out of hand but-"

She stopped when Naruto rushed the Sannin again. He used his cloak's claws to grab the man but once he got him in his grip, the Sannin's body turned into several snakes that slithered out of his grip and reformed a few yards away.

Orochimaru bit his thumb as he adopted a predatory smile directed towards Tayuya and Sakura. "Let me give you two something to play with while Naruto-kun and I have our fun." He said as he slammed his hand to the ground. To their surprise a large black cobra many stories tall appeared before them.

"Son of a bitch!" Tayuya said as she marveled at the size of the summon. It wasn't as big as Manda but it was still pretty damn huge.

"Leave it to me!" Sakura exclaimed as she rushed toward the snake, cocking her fist back for a punch. The snake hissed as the pinkette leaped into the air and connected with a devastating blow to the beast's head, sending it flying a short distance.

Tayuya's jaw dropped. _'Note to self, don't get on Pinky's bad side.'_ She thought to herself. Deciding to help out the pinkette she began weaving through a few handseals. "Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu! (Fire Release: Grand Fireball Jutsu)" She yelled as she shot a large ball of fire from her mouth. The fireball slammed into the snake with massive force, engulfing it in flames.

The redhead smirked as she ran up to stand beside the pinkette. To their surprise however, the fire had no effect on the snake as it quickly emerged and shot a stream of its own fire at the duo.

"Fuck!" Tayuya cursed as she and Sakura avoided the flames. This was not her day.

* * *

Meanwhile Naruto, in his three-tailed state was trying to land a hit on Orochimaru. No matter what he tried it wouldn't work and it was beginning to frustrate him. Every move he made, Orochimaru was one step ahead of him. He felt his anger building with every second and could feel the Kyuubi's power calling to him.

He closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them he was in his mindscape. He stood in front of the Kyuubi's cage and could feel the heaviness in the air. He frowned as he started to turn away but stopped when he caught sight of a raven haired boy on the inside of the cage.

"S-Sasuke?" He said in shock as the boy began to walk deeper into the darkness of the cage. "Sasuke!" Naruto yelled as he chased after his teammate into the fox's cage. As the blonde disappeared into the darkness of the cage a pair of red eyes opened from the inside of the cage and a deep laugh could be heard.

Inside the cage Naruto lost sight of Sasuke but he felt the air grow heavier with each step he took. Finally it became too much for him and it knocked him off of his feet. He fell into the shallow water beneath his feet and found that it began to rise and build up. The water began to swallow him as it raised many feet high and a whirlpool appeared.

Naruto fought to get away from the whirlpool but to no avail, its pull was too strong and the water made his body feel heavy. Finally he stopped resisting and let the whirlpool suck him in as it changed to a crimson red color. It consumed him completely and he felt his body begin to lose consciousness as it pulled him into a dark abyss.

* * *

Outside his mindscape Naruto had frozen. Orochimaru raised an eyebrow at the blonde, surprised that he stopped his assault. That didn't last long however, when Naruto suddenly let out a blood curdling roar and a shockwave of chakra exploded from his body. The shockwave sent Orochimaru staggering back and was enough to get Tayuya's and Sakura's attention even while they fought Orochimaru's summon about a hundred yards away.

Everyone present watched in shock as a fourth tail sprouted from the cloak and Naruto was enveloped in a thick dark chakra that made him resemble a mini-Kyuubi. His eyes were completely white and the chakra cloak was much more dense than his previous transformations.

Sakura gasped at the sight. You could feel how dark and heavy the c

hakra was just from being near it. It was foul and awful. "Na-Naruto?" The pinkette stuttered in shock.

Tayuya frowned and had a worried look as she watched Naruto's transformation. "Baka… you said you could control yourself…" She whispered to herself. They didn't have time to focus on Naruto however, with Orochimaru's cobra summon still on the attack. Tayuya gritted her teeth in anger before biting her thumb, intent on ending their battle with the snake summon. "Kuchiyose no jutsu!" She yelled slamming her palm to the ground. Sakura's eyes widened as a towering ogre appeared before them. It stood as tall as the snake and had green skin, it was very muscular and wore a fur cloth around its waist while it wielded a spiked club. There were two long horns like those of a bull on its head and there was a spike growing on the back of each of its hands. It had long white hair and orange eyes as well as sharp long fangs. The colossal summon roared as it beat its chest with one hand and raised its large club with the other.

Orochimaru was shocked by the appearance of the ogre. He hadn't expected Tayuya to be able to summon such a beast. Sakura was also shocked as she marveled at the huge beast.

Tayuya smirked as she yelled out, "Onizuki! Kick that little snake's ass for me you big fucker!"

The ogre grunted in response as it smashed the cobra across the face with its club. The snake hissed in pain as it was sent flying by the ogre's attack. It quickly recovered by slithering up and wrapping itself around the ogre, constricting him. The ogre was able to use his hands to pull the snake off of him and then proceeded to bash the snake with his club again.

Off in the forest near the bridge Kakashi was fighting ten mud clones of Orochimaru, mowing them down only for them to reform and attack him once more. The venom in the snakes that bit him earlier had begun to take effect. It dulled his senses and made his movements more sluggish. He too stopped as he felt the surge of chakra from a short distance away. _'Naruto! He must be using the Kyuubi's power.'_ He thought with a frown.

* * *

**(Flashback)**

Kakashi, Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Tayuya stood in the Hokage's office. It was one day before they'd be setting out for Tenchi Bridge. Jiraiya had called Kakashi and Tayuya into Tsunade's office to discuss an important matter.

"About this mission," Jiraiya started with a frown. "It is very important that you two keep an eye on Naruto at all times. Normally he can keep a cool head but when it concerns Orochimaru…"

Tayuya sighed and leaned against the wall as she shook her head. "There's no telling what he'll do. He's an impulsive dumbass." The redhead stated as she thought of her blonde companion. He had definitely grown stronger and wiser in the past three years but he still had a short fuse when it came to Orochimaru and the Uchiha.

The others present all silently agreed. Tsunade shifted her gaze from Tayuya to Jiraiya. "So about the Kyuubi's chakra, what was it you wanted to say?"

Jiraiya nodded and began undressing his top half as he spoke. "When the Kyuubi manifests itself through Naruto its chakra forms a fox-like cloak around him with a tail. Each tail adds a larger amount of chakra and the Kyuubi's will and the angrier he gets the more tails he'll grow. He can control up to three before he loses consciousness. My guess is that he'll continue to grow tails until…"

"Until there are nine of them." Kakashi finished with a frown.

The room grew silent for a few moments while everyone pondered Jiraiya's words. Once again Tsunade broke the silence, "You said he can control up to three tails worth. What happens when the fourth tail grows?"

"You know there are only two times in my life I've come close to death. The first was when I peeped on a certain woman in the hot springs…" The Toad Sannin began, earning a glare from a blushing Tsunade. He finished removing his shirt to reveal a large scar on his torso. Everyone in the room's eyes widened. "The second was when I loosened Naruto's seal and he grew the fourth tail."

"When he was in his three-tailed state he was conscious of his actions but after the fourth tail grew he went on nothing but pure destructive impulse. He was just like a miniature Kyuubi."

"But what about the Yondaime's seal?" Kakashi asked. Surely the seal the Yondaime put on Naruto should be able to hold back that much pure chakra.

Jiraiya put his mesh armor shirt back on and frowned. "Actually it seems that the Yondaime's seal is weakening. And on top of that, while the Kyuubi's chakra cloak looks to be protecting Naruto, it's actually harming him. The cloak constantly damages his body while the internal Kyuubi chakra tries to repair the damage. This cycle of rapid injury followed by accelerated healing could greatly weaken Naruto's body and shorten his life span."

"What?" Tayuya yelled as she stomped over to Jiraiya and got in his face. "Why didn't you tell me about this sooner? Why haven't you told Naruto? Hell, it's his damn life at stake here!" She demanded with as she grabbed Jiraiya's shirt and shook him with fury in her eyes.

Jiraiya grabbed her fists and pulled them off of his shirt, giving the redhead a serious look. "I know you're upset Tayuya, but you have to be strong. I should've told you sooner, you're the only one who can hope to suppress Naruto's anger." The Sannin explained as Tayuya stopped resisting.

She ripped her hands from his grasp and took a step back as she gritted her teeth. "Why me?" She asked in a low voice, almost a whisper.

"You two are alike, and Naruto knows it. I've seen the difference in his behavior with you around. When he's with you Naruto is happier. Even when he's suffering on the inside he forces himself to be happier for you." The white haired sage explained.

Tayuya's eyes widened. "He's… suffering? B-But he's always so happy, how could he be-"

"He does it for you. You've become someone very important to him. In his mind your happiness comes before his own. The way he sees it, making you happy so that you don't suffer anymore is more important than dealing with the pain in his own heart."

Tayuya looked down at the ground for a moment in silence. Barely raising her head she shakily asked, "So he's been forcing himself to be happy around me when he's really been in pain this whole time?" She let out a small laugh as she pictured his smiling face, finding it hard to believe it could be hiding any form of sadness underneath. "That idiot… He should know he can talk to me about things like that. Just what am I to him?"

Jiraiya approached the girl, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You're his most precious friend Tayuya. Naruto does it for you, he's the kind of idiot that thinks of others over himself. He wants to see you smiling and enjoying yourself rather than bringing you down with his own problems. That's why if it's you, you can stop Naruto from succumbing to his rage."

"You're right…" Tayuya looked up at the Sannin with a determined look on her face. "Just watch, I'll take care of that Shithead. After all, he's useless without me!" She said with a laugh.

Jiraiya smiled at the girl's words before removing his hand from her shoulder and bringing it into his pocket to dig around for something. He pulled out a few small pieces of paper with the word 'SUPPRESS' written on them. He handed the pieces of paper to Tayuya who took them and put them in her weapons pouch, knowing what they were for.

"What were those?" Tsunade asked confused. Kakashi also raised an eyebrow.

"Seals that will help suppress the Kyuubi's chakra should Naruto get out of hand. If Tayuya uses them it'll be most effective." Jiraiya explained.

Tayuya smirked as she turned and began heading for the door of the Hokage's office. "Don't worry, I'll take care Shithead." She said before stopping at the door and turning to face the group with a deceivingly sweet smile on her face. "I'm gonna have a nice little chat with Shithead about what you've told me Hentai-sensei. And if he denies it I'll pound him into fucking dust."

With that the redhead left the room and the three adults just sweatdropped. Jiraiya laughed quietly as he thought to himself, _'Sorry gaki but this is revenge for all the pranks you played on me during the training trip… I still haven't gotten all the itching powder out of my underwear…' _He shuddered at remembering the blonde's infamous 'Great Itching Powder Prank'. In Jiraiya's mind whatever Tayuya did to him he had it coming.

**(End Flashback)**

* * *

Kakashi frowned as he watched Orochimaru's mud clones change into mud and pull together to form a large snake. _'I don't have time to keep dealing with this, I've got to get to Naruto fast.'_ Kakashi thought as his vision began to blur from the venom the snakes had injected into him. He closed his sharingan eye as the large snake hissed menacingly.

When he opened his eye it now resembled a pinwheel pattern rather than the standard sharingan. _'Mangekyou Sharingan!'_ Kakashi said in his head as he activated the eye. The snake suddenly lunged for him, aiming to sink its fangs into his face. Kakashi guided his chakra into the eye and focused on a certain point. "Kamui!" He exlcaimed as the snake was sucked into a barrier of space that warped it into another dimension and out of sight.

Kakashi collapsed from the stress of using the eye. _'Damn, with that venom flowing through my body I could barely manage to use the technique just once… I have to move, the others are in danger.'_ The silver haired jonin thought to himself as he forced himself to his feet and took off towards Naruto and the others.

* * *

Blown back by the surge of the Kyuubi's chakra, Orochimaru was laying on the ground in a predator-like position. His long tongue extended slightly and licked the blood from his lips as he smiled wickedly at the jinchuuriki. "This boy, never fails to amuse me." He said to himself.

Naruto now stood on all fours like an animal with his chakra cloak now darker and full of malice. The worst case scenario had happened, the fourth tail had grown. Now Naruto was fueled by nothing but pure instinct and bloodlust.

He let out a bloodcurdling cry that sounded eerily similar to the fox's own as he prepared to attack the Snake Sannin. In an instant he closed the distance between him and Orochimaru and balled his claws into a fist, slamming it into Orochimaru's back and causing a shockwave.

Orochimaru however just opened his mouth and a fist flew out, connecting with Naruto's face. The blow was enough to send the blonde flying but as he was being blown back by the punch, from his cloak another set of claws and a head grew and they slashed Orochimaru's body, cutting him in half. The Sannin recovered however when several snakes shot out from his lower and upper halves and pulled the two halves back together, reforming him as if he were never damaged. Orochimaru then leapt backwards to put some distance between him and the transformed jinchuuriki.

Naruto slammed his claws into the ground, imbedding them deep into the earth. Orochimaru raised an eyebrow before he felt something beneath his feet. The demented scientist leapt away, narrowly avoiding two chakra claws that would have crushed him. The assault didn't end there however as more claws began sprouting from the first two as well as popping up from the ground below the Sannin. He expertly dodged each one as he leapt back and forth.

Tired of the game, Naruto had all the claws retract and pulled his hands out of the ground. Orochimaru stopped and watched the jinchuuriki, curious as to what he would try next. The Sannin was panting a bit from the workout he was getting. He had to admit that Naruto was strong, even before transforming into this state he was difficult to deal with.

Naruto threw his head back and his tails all bent towards his open mouth as he began to draw in chakra. Suddenly from the air the jinchuuriki began drawing in small orbs of red and blue chakra. The orbs converged right above Naruto's mouth, forming a dark sphere of energy.

Orochimaru's eyes widened. "That's!"

Tayuya and Sakura rushed over as they left Tayuya's summon to take care of Orochimaru's snake summon. "Shithead/Naruto!" They cried. They stopped short when they saw the energy the boy was gathering.

"Wait!" Tayuya said as she had a bad feeling about the sphere the boy was forming.

The ball grew to a large size before being compressed into a tiny sphere. The ground below Naruto sunk in from the weight of the orb as Naruto suddenly swallowed it.

"He swallowed it?" Sakura asked surprised. Tayuya unconsciously took a step back.

Orochimaru bit his thumbs and made a few handsigns before slamming his hands to the ground. "Kuchiyose: Sanju Rashomon! (Summoning: Triple Rashomon)" From the earth below three large gates erupted upwards, each with a strange demonic face on them.

"Shit!" Tayuya yelled as she too began making a few handsigns. She grabbed Sakura's arm and pulled her close with one hand while she extended the other. "Zekkaria Domu! (Absolute Barrier Dome)" The redhead yelled as she erected a dome shaped purple barrier of chakra around the two.

Naruto expanded after swallowing the dense ball of chakra. He now looked like a chubby mini-Kyuubi but that chubbiness was deceiving as he opened his mouth and shot forth a beam of pure chakra at Orochimaru. The beam had massive power that exploded upon impact and caused a large shockwave throughout the area, dispelling both Tayuya's ogre summon and Orochimaru's snake summon.

When the dust cleared the ground was even more scarred than before. Tayuya released her barrier and was panting from the strain of holding the barrier up through such an attack. _'That much force and we weren't even in the line of fire, that was only the shockwave!'_ The redhead thought to herself as she collapsed to one knee.

"Tayuya-san!" Sakura exclaimed in worry as she knelt down next to the girl.

"I'll be fine. It just takes a lot of chakra to hold up that barrier against an attack like that." She said waving it off as she stood up. _'Even in stage two of the Curse Seal that was intense.'_

The girls looked up to see Naruto standing and howling as the dust cleared around him and Orochimaru. The Sannin was in a strange position with his head under the ground and his arms and legs contorted.

"D-Did he get him?" Sakura asked hopefully.

Tayuya narrowed her eyes. "No. He wouldn't go down that easy. The jutsu he used is one of the most powerful barrier jutsus out there."

Suddenly, from under the ground Orochimaru's head erupted from the ground with a Sword of Kusanagi in his mouth. He used his extendable neck send his head rushing towards the jinchuuriki, stabbing him with the blade though not piercing him. The blade then extended sending Naruto flying into the remnants of the bridge many yards away.

"Shithead!" Tayuya yelled as she rushed off in the direction Naruto was sent. Sakura followed closely behind.

Naruto had been pinned against the side of the cliff next to where the bridge stood earlier. Kabuto shakily stood up as he looked at the jinchuuriki in fascination. "Such power. It's no wonder everyone's after the jinchuuriki."

Tayuya glared at Kabuto as she and Sakura rushed to the remnants of the bridge. "Get away from him!" She ordered.

Kabuto merely laughed to himself as he adjusted his glasses. "Relax, it's not like I'm dumb enough to take him on as he is now. That would be suicide. You two however-" The spectacled sound nin was sent flying as Sakura's fist collided with his face. He was sent rocketing through the forest for many yards.

Tayuya stared wide eyed at the feat. This girl was definitely trained by the legendary Tsunade and was clearly not someone Tayuya needed to get angry.

Shaking off those thoughts, Tayuya turned her attention to Naruto. The Kyuubi jinchuuriki was pinned by Orochimaru's extended sword of Kusanagi but it was unable to pierce through his dense cloak of chakra. He grabbed the blade and tossed it aside, causing Orochimaru to retract it. Naruto sat on the side of the cliff and let out a roar as Tayuya approached.

Sakura watched anxiously, not knowing what to expect. This wasn't the Naruto she knew. It wasn't the happy optimistic blonde she'd come to admire and value as a friend. This was a stone cold killing machine. The pinkette almost took off after Tayuya when a hand on her shoulder stopped her. She turned her head to see none other than Kakashi, he was sweaty and panting and his clothes were torn.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura exclaimed in shock.

"Tayuya can handle Naruto, but I need you to help me get this venom out of my system." The jonin instructed as he collapsed to the ground.

"Yes!" The pinkette said as she began working to remove the venom.

Meanwhile Tayuya walked up to Naruto cautiously. He seemed to be preparing to go back after Orochimaru but stopped when he sensed her presence and turned his head to her. She deactivated her Curse Seal and walked closer.

"Hey, come on Shithead. It's me, you can cut it out now." She said as she forced a smile.

Naruto just let out another roar as his four tails swished around. To her surprise, when she took another step forward one of his tails lashed out at her and nailed her in the ribs, sending her rolling a couple of yards.

She winced from the pain of the stinging chakra. It had not only cut but burned the skin and now she bled profusely. Clutching the wound she stood up, holding back the tears that were forming in her eyes from the physical and emotional pain of the attack. She forced a smile as she walked towards him once more.

"That hurt Shithead, but it's alright. You didn't mean it right?" She asked as she got closer and slipped a hand into her weapons pouch. "Right?" She repeated as she got even closer. Naruto seemed to be hearing her as his tails stopped swishing around and he watched her intently. "Because you said you'd always protect your friends right?" She yelled as she closed the distance between them and slammed one of the suppression seals Jiraiya gave her on Naruto's head and formed a handsign.

As she pumped chakra into the seal the dark chakra began to recede slowly, seeping into Naruto's skin. Once the crimson cloak had disappeared Tayuya was horrified to find his body covered in wounds, his skin seemingly burned off completely. The blonde was out cold but the look on his face signified that he was indeed in pain.

"Sakura!" Tayuya yelled as she knelt down to Naruto's side.

Said pinkette looked up to see Naruto's current state and her eyes widened. "Naruto!" She exclaimed in shock. Kakashi motioned for her to go to the boy, her having removed most of the poison from him already.

Sakura immediately went to work on healing Naruto and repairing the damage done by the Kyuubi's chakra. It was one of the worst cases of its kind that she had ever seen. All of his skin was burned off completely and there seemed to be some internal damages as well though the Kyuubi's chakra inside of him had begun healing all of that already.

Tayuya felt helpless as she could only watch the pinkette heal her companion. She hated the feeling of not being able to do anything to help. It made her feel insignificant.

Sakura continued healing Naruto as Kakashi made his way over to the group. Sakura had successfully removed the venom from the snakes but he would still need to get an anti-venom in him when they returned to the village.

"I've never seen anything like that power." Sakura said as she continued healing Naruto, her efforts being aided by his own natural accelerated healing.

Kakashi looked at the face of his blonde student, seeing his own sensei in his face. The thought of his deceased sensei and former team caused the jonin to frown a bit. "The power of a bijuu is terrifying…" He said while thinking back to the Kyuubi's attack on the village.

"Tayuya-san, I was surprised you were able to get so close and use that seal on him." Sakura said addressing the redhead.

Tayuya's eyes shifted from Naruto's unconscious form to the pink haired kunoichi. "Yeah well, we've grown kind of close in the past three years I guess." She said with a small smile.

Sakura raised blushed a bit and cleared her throat as she continued healing the blonde. "So, you're close… Do you mean… Are you two in a… relationship?" The pinkette finally managed to ask the question that had been bugging her.

Tayuya's face turned a deep shade of red as her eyes widened. She waved her arms in front of her frantically as she tried to stutter out a response. "N-N-NO! H-Hell no! Who could ever l-love that idiot! Stupid perverted Shithead!" She sputtered out as Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"I never said anything about love…So then do you love him?" She asked as she leaned in close anticipating an answer.

Tayuya turned even redder. "L-L-L-Love? I just-FUCK! HE'S A DAMN SHITHEAD!" She yelled to the heavens in an attempt to cover up her flushed face and embarrassed stuttering.

Sakura frowned. Tayuya definitely had it bad for Naruto, that much was obvious and, although she liked the girl, she had mixed feelings about that for some reason.

Suddenly the sound of Naruto stirring captured everyone's attention. Sakura had restored his skin back to normal with the help of Naruto's internal Kyuubi chakra. The blonde boy opened his eyes slowly and the first thing he saw was a red faced Tayuya. He smiled as he extended his hand towards the girl and placed it on her cheek, shocking her.

"Tayuya-chan, whats wrong? Your face is all red. Wait, where's your dress? And where is the fountain of ramen?" The blonde asked with a dreamy look on his face.

Tayuya quickly smacked his hand away and stood to her feet, turning her back to him. "Idiot! You had us all worried!" She yelled with her back still turned.

At this Naruto sat up. "Worried? What happened?" His question earned confused looks from the other three present.

Kakashi was the one to ask what the others were all wondering, "You mean to say that you don't remember anything?"

Naruto closed his eyes and rested his chin on his fist in a thinking pose. After a few seconds of thought he shrugged. "Last I remember we were fighting Orochimaru and then everything went black."

'_I guess he can't recall anything that happened when he was in that state.'_ Kakashi thought to himself.

Tayuya winced as she felt a sudden jolt of pain from her wound earlier. She clutched the wound and fell to her knees.

"Tayuya-chan/-san!" Naruto and Sakura yelled in unison. The two rushed to her side to inspect the wound.

Naruto growled as he saw how deep the wound was, he could tell it caused her to bleed quite a bit as evidenced by the bloodstains on her black tunic. The skin also seemed to be burned as well as scarred. Naruto gritted his teeth as he cursed Orochimaru. "That Snake-teme, I'll get him for this."

Sakura had started healing the wound and glanced at Naruto with a confused expression. "Naruto, Orochimaru didn't-" Sakura started but was cut off by Tayuya.

"Yeah, that bastard somehow managed to get me with his damn sword after you passed out. It'll be fine though, it's not too deep." Tayuya said waving it off.

Naruto frowned as he watched the wound close up from Sakura's medical ninjutsu. "Still, I'll make him pay for hurting you!"

Tayuya frowned at his words, which did not go unnoticed by Naruto. Before he could say anything about it, Kakashi pulled him aside.

"What is it Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi made sure they were out of earshot of Tayuya and Sakura before speaking. "Naruto, you need to know that you didn't pass out-"

Naruto froze and his expression turned gloomy. "I used the Kyuubi's power right?"

Kakashi sighed and looked away. "That's not all." Naruto looked at his teacher curiously. Kakashi pointed to Tayuya who was chatting with Sakura, her wound now healed but it still formed a small scar. "You were the one who hurt Tayuya."

"What?" The blonde jinchuuriki was shocked. He had hurt his closest friend. The person that had been there for him the past three years and meant the world to him. He was horrified. "I-I… you mean that… I did that?"

"Yes. You fought with Orochimaru and when Tayuya tried to approach you to suppress the Kyuubi's chakra with one of Jiraiya-sama's seals, you batted her away with one of your tails."

Naruto looked at his hands with a horrified expression. He couldn't believe it, he had actually harmed Tayuya. She was one of his most precious people that he swore to protect at all costs and HE had been the one to hurt her. He clenched his fists and closed his eyes as he went into deep thought for a few moments.

Kakashi waited for a response from the blonde and was shocked when he pulled out a kunai and stabbed it into his own hand, reminiscent of what he had done at the beginning of their mission in the Land of Waves years ago. Tayuya and Sakura also saw the blonde's action and watched in shock as he grit his teeth and declared, "I'll never hurt someone close to me again, I swear I'll control the Kyuubi's power and use it only to protect!" He shouted as his blood flowed from the fresh wound on his hand.

Kakashi and Sakura smiled at the declaration and how it reminded them of the old Team 7. Tayuya on the other hand was worried, Kakashi had obviously pulled Naruto aside to tell him of what really happened.

After his declaration Naruto walked over to Tayuya, shocking her a bit. He looked into her eyes with his own piercing blue orbs. She felt her heart beat a bit faster as she took in the serious look on his face. Before she could react he grabbed her by the shoulders lightly and said, "I promise, I'll never hurt you again. I'll protect you with everything I have."

Sakura blushed a bit at Naruto's actions towards the redhead, she was really starting to wonder if something was going on there. Kakashi just smiled at his student's declaration, thinking about how like his father he really is.

Tayuya blushed a deep shade of red before pushing him off of her, confusing the blonde jinchuuriki. She turned her back to him and crossed her arms. "It goes both ways dumbass."

"Tayuya-chan?"

She whipped around and punched him lightly on the arm. "I'm gonna protect you too Shithead. You're always worrying about other people so somebody's gotta watch out for your dumb ass." She said with a rare smile.

The smile didn't go unnoticed by Naruto as a foxy grin spread across his face. "You smiled Tayuya-chan! I haven't seen you do that in a while!"

The redhead's expression quickly changed back to the usual scowl as her face heated up once more. "Sh-Shut up! It's not like it's important idiot!"

"But Tayuya-chan's smiles are the best!"

"Whatever! Let's just get going, the mission isn't over yet!"

"That's right, now that we know where the hideout is, we can get Sasuke!" The blonde tightened his headband as he looked to Kakashi.

The silver haired jonin shrugged. "Well since we're all raring to go, I guess I can't refuse can I?" He said with one of his eye smiles.

"Hell yeah!" Sakura and Naruto exclaimed while Tayuya just smirked, the red finally leaving her cheeks.

"Let's get going!" Naruto shouted as the group leapt off in the direction of Orochimaru's current base. As they leapt through the trees Naruto spared a glance at Tayuya. He clenched his fists as he looked at her scar from the wound he caused earlier. _'I swear, I'll protect everyone! Hold on Sasuke!'_

* * *

**Author's Note: _And that's it for chapter six. Pumped that I've broken 50,000 words with this chapter. BOOM! Well leave a review and let me hear your thoughts, I have no life right now so I've got nothing better to do than read them anyway! _**


	7. Into the Snake's Den

**Symphony of Fate**

_Chapter 7: Into the Snake Den_

_**Author's Note: **Finally finished this chapter! Sorry for not updating sooner but football has kept me busy and it's only just started. I'll be trying to update as often as I can but I can't make any promises. Rest assured however, this fic will not be abandoned. I plan to see it through to the end. Anyway, enjoy the chapter!  
_

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters affiliated with the series. They all belong to Masashi Kishimoto._**

* * *

To say that Kabuto had been having a bad day would be an understatement. He had initially planned to surprise his old master, Sasori, by ambushing and killing him with help from Orochimaru. These plans were spoiled however, when the Sasori he met was revealed to be none other than Kakashi Hatake. Before he had been able to signal for Orochimaru's help he had been caught in a clever trap by Naruto Uzumaki and was then subjected to the sadistic torture of the blonde and his redheaded friend.

The silver haired medic shuddered at remembering the pain Tayuya inflicted on his 'family jewels'. And as if all of that wasn't enough, Naruto severed his arm and brushed him aside like a fly. HIM, Kabuto Yakushi, Orochimaru's right hand man. To say that the experience hurt his pride would be putting it mildly. The blonde and the redhead had humiliated him and he wouldn't soon forget it.

All the happenings of the day had led to Kabuto's current situation, using one of his advanced medical ninjutsus taught to him by Orochimaru to reattach his severed arm. His hand was aglow with blue chakra as he held it above the severed arm which was currently attached to its previous spot with bandages.

With a sigh of relief he released the jutsu and wiped the sweat from his brow. He then began to unravel the bandages that had been holding the arm in place. A pleased smile spread across his face as removing the bandages revealed that the jutsu was a success and his severed appendage was back where it belonged and functional again.

As he clenched his hand into a fist and opened it a few times to test the arm out, he noticed a figure enter the room out of the corner of his eye. "Orochimaru-sama, I'm all done here. Should we prepare to relocate?" The silver haired shinobi asked as he turned his attention to the Snake Sannin.

Orochimaru smiled menacingly and let out a small chuckle. "Not just yet, I want to play with those Konoha brats a bit more." He said before licking his lips with his long, snake-like tongue.

Kabuto's eyes widened. "Is that wise Orochimaru-sama? Kakashi Hatake is with them after all, and Naruto Uzumaki has become quite powerful himself."

"It will be alright. **They** have arrived already as insurance." The Sannin said with a smile.

Kabuto raised an eyebrow. "You mean 'them'? Well if they're all here then I suppose there is nothing to worry about but isn't that overkill?"

The Snake-like man turned around and began walking out of the room as he spoke. "I gave them instructions not to kill anyone. Hopefully if we let them live they'll kill off more Akatsuki members. Besides, I want to see the reunion between Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun." He said before stopping halfway out of the room and looking back at Kabuto with a chilling smile. "Perhaps then they'll finally realize how pointless their actions truly are." With that the Sannin turned and disappeared into the darkness of the corridor, leaving Kabuto alone in the room once more.

Kabuto sighed as he pushed his glasses, which had slided down the bridge of his nose a bit, back up to their proper position. "Well if they're here I suppose I have nothing to worry about. Still, I don't like the idea of letting them leave here alive… But orders are orders I suppose…"

* * *

"Alright, we'll take a break for a moment and devise our strategy before we infiltrate." Kakashi instructed as the group had arrived outside of Orochimaru's lair. Since the lair was underground they had opted to infiltrate it secretly using a doton jutsu.

Deciding to take the opportunity to settle some personal matters Naruto slipped away when the others weren't looking and walked into the forest. After walking a little ways he looked around to be sure the others didn't follow him before seating himself on the ground in a meditative pose.

Upon closing his eyes, his surroundings were replaced with a familiar, dimly lit sewer. After opening his eyes he set off for his destination. By now he knew this place like the back of his hand and so it was easy for him to navigate his way through the tunnels to get to his destination.

He stopped as he reached a dark room in the back that where the ceiling was much higher and the room much wider. The room also contained a large cage, though its contents were hidden in the darkness of the room. Narrowing his eyes the blonde approached the cage, prompting the beast contained inside to open his eyes and peer down at the boy.

A grin spread across the demon fox's face as the boy approached. **"Do you come to call upon my power? Release me and I'll help you kill all of the ones who threaten you-"**

"Shut the Hell up!" Naruto snapped. If anything this seemed to amuse the fox. "You know why I'm here."

"**If you are not here to release my seal then begone!" **The terrifying creature shouted as it allowed some of its chakra to seep through the cage and wrap itself around Naruto's feet.

Naruto didn't even flinch. He had anticipated the beast's attitude. His calmness kept the Kyuubi's chakra from being able to affect him, since it only reacted to negative emotions, and the red chakra slowly receded back into the cage. "I'm not going anywhere until we speak."

Hearing this, the fox demon growled and lied down behind the cage, though still glaring at the boy. **"Then speak kit."**

"Earlier I was careless and let my emotions get the better of me. It was a stupid thing to do and I realize that. But when you took over I hurt my close friend. It terrified me that I could be the one to cause the people I love pain and so I decided not to use your power anymore."

The Kyuubi growled at the blonde. **"You're nothing but another shinobi without my power! A pathetic existence doomed to die as a pawn for your Hokage!"**

Naruto showed no visible reaction to the Kyuubi's words, which only served to anger the beast. "Don't misunderstand. I know that I need your power. After some consideration I realized I was forgetting something important." The Kyuubi raised an eyebrow as a sad smile spread across the blonde's face. "I didn't even consider what you must be feeling. I realized that I considered you a thoughtless, unfeeling demon just like the villagers saw me as growing up, and I'm no better than them for thinking like that." He explained with a frown. The Kyuubi was shocked to hear this coming from the boy.

"I didn't stop to think about how you feel about being sealed inside of me. I can't imagine living such a long life filled with nothing but people trying to obtain your power by constantly trying to seal you away."

"**I don't need your damn pity you brat! I'm the most powerful bijuu, don't think you can just impress me with your petty words!"** The kitsune roared as he pressed his head against the cage to get as close to in Naruto's face as he could. Naruto had a serious expression as he approached the cage. **"What are you planning to do?!"**

Without a word Naruto stepped up so that he was looking straight into the Kyuubi's eye. "No matter what you say, I felt it. When you took over I could feel your grief, your loneliness, your resentment, your hate. How can I ignore something like that?!" The blonde shouted the last part, surprising the demon. He then slipped through the bars of the cage into the inside. "I won't ignore your feelings, even if you do. Because I know what it's like to be alone."

The Kyuubi was completely shocked now, not only had he continued to persist in claiming he understood him but he had entered the cage and he wasn't the least bit scared. **"I told you, I don't want your pity. It's my fault your parents are dead you know…"**

Naruto's eyes widened a bit before a small smile spread on his face. "I had a feeling about that, but it's not important. That's in the past. Kyuubi, I promise that I won't let you be alone anymore."

The beast's eyes widened. **"What are you blabbering about?"**

Naruto's face once again became serious and full of resolve as he looked up at the beast. "I'll find a way to shoulder all of your pain along with you, I promise! That's why I'm asking; please depend on me a little bit. We're partners here after all." He said as he looked into the Kyuubi's eyes.

The fox was amazed by the boy's declaration. Though he didn't believe there was any way for the boy to help him aside from releasing the seal, part of him wanted to believe in the boy. Hearing his words he had to admit that the blonde reminded him a lot of a certain man who gave him his name long ago. He searched the boy's eyes for something but all he could see was the determination that seemed to radiate from the boy. It stirred up something in him that he hadn't felt in a long time: hope. The fox gave a deep sigh before turning his head away from the blonde teen and closing his eyes as though he was pretending to take a nap. **"Fine, I'll depend on you then…"**

A foxy grin spread across Naruto's face as he stepped back through the cage bars and onto the side he came from. "I'll definitely do it, just watch!" He yelled as he turned away.

"**On one condition,"** The fox yelled, stopping him in his tracks.

"Uh, what?" The confused blonde asked.

The fox opened one eye and stared at the boy. **"My chakra also holds my will, my hatred. If you can overcome my hate with your will then I will submit to you Naruto Uzumaki."**

A challenging smirk appeared on the blonde jinchuuriki as he began to exit his mindscape, "I accept your challenge! Bring it on fox!"

* * *

Back in Konoha, Inari had decided to make the most of his time waiting around for Naruto and Tayuya to return by doing some training. In order to better control his Cursed Seal form he needed to strengthen his body, and that was going to mean a lot of intense physical exercise. Which lead him to his current situation…

"ALRIGHT INARI-KUN, I'LL GLADLY HELP YOU ON YOUR YOUTHFUL QUEST!" Shouted Might Gai as he struck a creepy pose and smiled his signature gleaming smile at the boy in front of him.

Inari sweatdropped. He had heard from Naruto's friends that if he was looking to build endurance and strength then Gai-sensei was the best possible person to train him. But as it turned out, Might Gai wasn't excactly what he expected to say the least.

"Yeah… So what's up first Gai-sensei?" Inari asked as he tried to put aside the man's more annoying traits and remind himself that the man before him was quite possibly the strongest (physically) person in the village.

Gai struck a thinking pose for a moment before he thought of something. "How about we warm up a little first? I think we should start with twenty laps around the village, three hundred push-ups, four hundred sit-ups, and five hundred squats!"

Inari's jaw dropped. _'He's gotta be kidding…'_

"OH THE YOUTH! I'LL JOIN YOU INARI-KUN! COME ON, LET'S BEGIN!" The jumpsuit wearing jonin yelled before taking off at a high speed, kicking up a small cloud of dust.

Inari simply stood there for a moment, mouth agape. "He-He's serious?!" The boy exclaimed as a green blur raced by him at an alarming speed. With a groan he took off after the blur as fast as his feet would carry him. _'Nii-san, hurry up and come back already!'_

* * *

The soft sound of feet tapping against the ground filled the otherwise silent corridors of Orochimaru's underground hideout. Moving as fast as he could while still trying to be silent as to avoid detection, Naruto traversed the seemingly endless corridors. Coming to a sudden stop in front of a door he quickly slung the door open, gritting his teeth when he saw that it was empty. Just a few steps behind him, Tayuya also came to a stop at the door that was just opposite the one Naruto had opened. She opened it to find that room was also empty.

"Son of a bitch!" Naruto yelled in frustration as he opened yet another door to find the room empty before taking off further into the dark corridors.

"Damnit Shithead, calm down! Do you want that Pedophile and his Butt-Buddy to find us?!" Tayuya whisper-yelled at the frustrated blonde.

Naruto ignored her comment and continued down the dark hallway. He honestly didn't care if he ran into Orochimaru or Kabuto at this point, this was his only chance to save Sasuke and he'd be damned if he was gonna let it slip by. After running ahead a bit more he came to another door and stopped. He felt something familiar inside of him that he couldn't ignore.

Tayuya caught up to the blonde and stopped beside him. He was staring at the door hesitantly. "Shithead?"

The blonde jinchuuriki took a deep breath and then threw the door open in one swift motion. "Sasuke!" He yelled as he burst into the eerily dark room. Tayuya cursed under her breath and drew a kunai as she darted in after him.

Once he had taken a couple of steps inside of the room he stopped and took in his surroundings. The room was dark but his eyes had been trained to see well in the dark. He could make out enough to tell that he was in a bedroom. His eyes wandered around the room before falling upon the bed and, more specifically, the figure laying on it. The figure had its back turned to Naruto but the small amount of light that filtered into the room from the door Naruto had opened revealed the figure's raven hair.

"So you came after all, dobe." The figure spoke addressing Naruto in a familiar voice.

Naruto's eyes widened hearing the figure's voice. He was sure of it now, he had found the one he was searching for. The blonde couldn't help the smile that spread across his face as he took a step forward. "Sasuke!"

Tayuya quickly tried to grab Naruto's arm as he took a step forward. "Shithead wait-" She yelled in an attempt to stop him but it was too late. The room was instantly engulfed in a huge explosion.

* * *

Hearing the explosion Sakura and Kakashi had stopped in their tracks. It had been about twenty minutes since they had separated into two groups to search the hideout for Sasuke and they had yet to hear from Naruto and Tayuya.

"Sensei!" Sakura cried in alarm as she looked to the older shinobi.

Kakashi narrowed his eye and took off in the direction of the explosion without a word. _'I can't afford to be late this time, I've already failed them once! Hold on Naruto!'_ The silver haired jonin thought to himself as he and Sakura made their way through the corridors.

After a bit of running they saw a light in the distance and sprinted for it as fast as their feet would carry them. As they approached the light they could make out two figures standing in it. Once they got even closer they realized the figures were none other than Naruto and Tayuya and they seemed to be looking up at something.

Sakura darted into the light and straight to Naruto's side. "Naruto!" She cried in relief seeing he wasn't hurt. She was confused when the blonde only gave her a glance before turning his attention back to the figure standing above him. She followed his gaze to see a raven haired teen with onyx eyes staring back at her. "Sasuke-kun!" She whispered in surprise.

Kakashi followed behind the pinkette and stood beside Naruto and Tayuya. He too looked up to see his former pupil's gaze on him now. "Sasuke… So you really were here…" Kakashi said.

"I have no interest in any of you but Naruto." The Uchiha said coldly, focusing his eyes on the blonde. "Why have you all come here?"

Naruto gritted his teeth and took a step forward. "I'm taking you home Sasuke! You're coming back to Konoha!" He yelled with his resolve clear in his voice.

Sasuke merely let out a small laugh as he smirked at the blonde. "If you think it's going to be that easy then be my guest."

"Orochimaru just wants to steal your body! Why can't you see that?!" Naruto yelled in frustration.

"You think I don't know that? It's none of your concern, I can handle myself." The raven haired teen said.

Naruto gritted his teeth and clenched his teeth as he remembered his time with Sasuke as a part of Team 7. "Just tell me why… Why did you leave us, why did you cut your ties with all of us?! Tell me!"

"Too many ties makes one lose sight of their ultimate goal. So that's why I severed my bonds with all of you, so that I can focus on my most important goal."

"So if you severed those bonds then why didn't you kill me back then?!" Naruto demanded as tears welled up in his eyes.

Tayuya frowned at the sight of the blonde losing himself. _'Shithead…'_

Sasuke let out another small laugh. "I spared you on a whim, I just decided that killing you would be exactly what he wants." In an instant Sasuke had disappeared and moved in front of Naruto, draping an arm around his shoulder and alarming everyone with his speed. "Come to think of it, you always wanted to be Hokage right? Why don't you stop chasing me and devote some time to your training."

Naruto's expression saddened. "How can I become Hokage if I can't even save one friend." He whispered softly.

Sasuke drew his chokuto from its sheath as he spoke again, "It's ironic, I spared you back then on a whim and now you'll die all because of a whim of mine." Naruto merely closed his eyes as Sasuke quickly moved to thrust the blade through the blonde's back.

To the Uchiha's surprise his attack was blocked by Tayuya grabbing his hand, her other hand holding a kunai ready for battle. Naruto took the opportunity to flip his body out of Sasuke's grasp and into the air. At that same instant Kakashi moved forward with a kunai drawn intent on striking the Uchiha.

Keeping calm, Sasuke activated his Sharingan and uttered, "Chidori Nagashi (Chidori Current)." The area surrounding the Uchiha was instantly filled with sparks of electricity. The attack was successful in hitting all but Sakura who had leapt back instinctively and narrowly dodged.

Naruto, Tayuya, and Kakashi all cried out in pain as the attack made contact. They each came crashing to the ground, their bodies not seeming to respond to their brains orders to stand up. The lightning chakra had numbed their bodies and made it difficult to move.

"Damn it!" Naruto cursed as he tried in vain to stand. Sasuke noticed the blonde's struggle and approached slowly with his chokuto prepared to strike.

"Like Hell!" Sakura screamed as she charged the raven haired teen with a chakra enhanced punch ready to be thrown. Sasuke easily dodged her attack by jumping into the air as her fist connected with the ground where he had been standing. A crater was formed from the force of the punch and rocks were sent flying.

Sasuke landed in a crouched position and charged the pinkette with his chokuto now glowing with raiton chakra. In a quick move he was able to pierce her shoulder with the blade and pin her against a rock. The pinkette cried out in pain as her body was immobilized by the raiton chakra. In one swift motion the Uchiha yanked the blade out of her shoulder and watched as she slowly slumped to the ground.

"Sasuke-kun…" She whispered as tears began to well up in her eyes.

Before the Uchiha could finish her he was alarmed by a surge of chakra behind him. He spun around to see Naruto back on his feet and with a stern look on his face. His eyes had turned red and his features were more feral. Tayuya and Kakashi also rose and prepared to face the raven haired teen.

Sasuke analyzed the situation, and it didn't look good. There were three of them against him, take into account that one is a jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, one is a world renowned shinobi, and one is a former servant of Orochimaru, and it was even worse. He was pretty sure he could beat Naruto and the redhead but Kakashi's presence was a game changer.

"Three on one isn't so fair now, is it?" A voice called from above the crater they were all standing in, alarming everyone. In an instant four shadows dropped into the crater and by Sasuke's side.

Tayuya's eyes widened as she notice the four figures were wearing the same outfit that she and the Sound Four had worn three years ago. "No way!" She muttered.

The one who had spoken before, a teenage boy with spikey orange hair and brown eyes smirked at the three shinobi. "Now this is a little better." The boy said as he eyed Tayuya.

Next to the orange haired boy was an older man that appeared to be in his late 30's with a bald head and squinty eyes. The man chuckled to himself as he looked at the three before him. "I can't wait to hear the noises they make when they're choking to death." He said with a sickening grin.

Naruto noticed there was one woman among them, she appeared to be in her 20's and had long black hair kept in a ponytail that reached her waist and onyx eyes. On the woman's back was a large scythe with a black blade. "They all look so delicious. I don't know where to start." She said as she licked her lips with a crazed look in her eyes.

The last of the four figures was a boy who seemed to be in his late teens with long white hair, pale skin, blue eyes, and a stoic expression. He seemed to be unnervingly calm. "Looks like our opponents are formidable. We have our orders however, we're just here to occupy them." The white headed teen reminded his companions.

Naruto gritted his teeth as the four figures stood in front of Sasuke. _'Shit! These bastards look strong. I've gotta get past them to get to Sasuke!'_ The blonde thought to himself as he focused on the Uchiha standing behind the four Sound shinobi with an annoyed expression.

Tayuya applied chakra to a seal on her hand and in a puff of smoke her sword appeared. She scowled at the four new enemies before her and began to release the first level of her Curse Seal. "You bastards, this is none of your business!" She yelled before moving forward, targeting the white haired boy first. Her slash landed flawlessly but to her surprise the boy shattered like glass once the blade made contact. "W-What?!"

Tayuya felt a chill as a cold cloud of mist gathered behind her and converged on one point, reforming itself into the white haired boy, his hands now covered by a pair of ice claws. The boy moved to slash the redhead but she quickly evaded the swipe by ducking under it and sweeping his legs out from under him. To her surprise she was then slashed at by a scythe courtesy of the black haired Sound nin. She jumped back to avoid the vicious attacks of the scythe wielding girl who was quickly approaching.

Meanwhile Naruto had drawn his chakra blades and used the opening made by Tayuya to charge straight for Sasuke. The other two Sound nin simply let him by as per Orochimaru's orders and charged Kakashi. The orange haired boy applied some chakra to a couple of seals on his wrists and after a puff of smoke he was holding a shamshir (type of Persian curved sword, google image it) and a kusarigama in the other. The bald man ran forward a few steps then stopped and made a few handsigns before exhaling a large stream of green gas from his mouth.

Kakashi quickly revealed his sharingan eye and leapt out of the path of the stream of gas. He then blocked the orange haired boy's attacks with nothing but his kunai. Even with the Sharingan, the boy's attacks were so quick and relentless that it was hard to find an opening to land a hit or do anything but parry his blows. After a few seconds of weapons clanging and sparks flying, Kakashi was able to land a roundhouse kick that knocked the orange haired Sound nin back.

"Not bad, Copy Ninja Kakashi. You're Sharingan is as fierce of an opponent as they say." The teen said genuinely impressed as he picked himself up from the ground and dropped into a defensive stance.

Kakashi ignored him and went through a few quick handseals before clutching his right wrist with his left hand. His right hand was then covered in sparks of concentrated blue electricity that gathered in his palm and violently sparked all about. "Sorry, but I don't have time to fool around with you two." Kakashi said as he prepared his Raikiri.

Kakashi rushed forward at a breakneck pace, making a bee line for the orange haired teen. The bald Sound nin quickly intercepted and jumped in front of the attack, allowing it to pierce his chest. Kakashi's eyes widened in shock as he realized that the man was chuckling. His eyes drifted to the hole in the man's chest where his hand was currently lodged and he noticed that instead of blood, a green slime substance was gushing from the wound and covering his arm. The Copy Ninja tried in vain to pull his hand out from the man's chest but the slime keeping his arm held firmly in place.

The bald man smirked as his body began to turn into the slime substance and it began to envelop the jonin, covering his right arm, legs, and torso as he struggled to break free. The orange headed teen smirked at the sight of Kakashi being brought down by his companion. He approached the struggling jonin slowly, swinging his kusarigama above his head rapidly.

Naruto meanwhile, had closed the distance between himself and Sasuke. The Uchiha charged forward and slashed at the blonde with his raiton chakra-enhanced blade but Naruto quickly dodged by jumping over his raven haired opponent. The blonde came skidding to a hault and made the handsigns for Hog, Dragon, and Bird.

"Fuuton no Yoroi!" The blonde chuunin shouted as a small whirlwind was whipped up around his body, spiking his hair up further and covering him in a nearly invisible veil of wind. His red eyes narrowed at his former teammate as he crouched into a fighting stance.

Sasuke analyzed the technique with his Sharingan and took note of the fuuton chakra covering the blonde's body. The Uchiha was surprised when the blonde closed the distance between them in a split second and connected with a powerful left hook that sent him reeling. After regaining his footing, the former Konoha shinobi created a bit more distance between himself and Naruto. _'Damn, that technique is powerful. If he's like that I can't beat him with taijutsu, however since that's a fuuton technique he's made one fatal mistake…'_ The Uchiha thought to himself as he quickly made a few handseals.

Naruto dashed forward in an attempt to interrupt the Uchiha's handseals but his attempt proved futile as this was just what Sasuke had expected. In the end he was a second too slow.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! (Fire Release: Grand Fireball Jutsu)" Sasuke roared as he exhaled a large fireball from his mouth. Naruto's eyes widened when he realized his mistake. While he had originally created the Fuuton no Yoroi to combat Sasuke's Raiton jutsu he hadn't taken into account that Sasuke's affinity was for Katon jutsu, which is strengthened by Fuuton. Besides that the other flaw of the technique is that it allows Naruto to move quickly in one direction but then requires him to come to a complete stop before he can change directions. Because of these two flaws the blonde collided head on with the fireball and screamed out in pain as his Fuuton no Yoroi intensified the flames around his body.

"Shithead!" Tayuya cried from a short distance away as she dodged another swing of the scythe-wielding woman's blade. Frustrated with her pursuers she dropped back and made a few handseals. Two water clones were formed and they each dashed toward the scythe girl and the pale boy, holding them off briefly so that she could make her way to the blonde's side.

"It won't be that easy!" The scythe-wielding woman yelled as she batted the water clone aside and quickly closed in on Tayuya. She prepared to cleave the redhead in half but was caught off guard by a fist connecting hard with her gut, sending her rocketing into a nearby pile of debris.

Tayuya glanced back to see Sakura had taken care of the black haired Sound nin, leaving her free to run to Naruto's aid. Once she arrived the flames had cleared and Naruto was lying on the ground, his jacket and undershirt were completely burned off and his pants and headband had also been burned in places. His skin was covered in severe burns but the Kyuubi's chakra had already went to work on healing them up.

The redhead gritted her teeth as she cradled the blonde's head. Hearing a 'hmph' from the Uchiha a few yards away, she glared at the blonde's assailant. As her anger rose she began drawing energy from her Cursed Seal subconsciously, advancing further into her Level Two form. She laid Naruto's head on the ground and stood back to her feet, her fists clenched in rage.

"Alright you smug son of a bitch, I'm kicking your ass!" She roared as she charged forward. Her speed was great but with his Sharingan Sasuke was able to track her movements and easily blocked a kick aimed at his head. He then countered by sweeping her other leg out from under her, only for her to catch herself and handspring backwards to create distance between her and the Uchiha.

Kakashi gritted his teeth as he fought to remove the goo-like substance that was engulfing his body and restraining him. He had managed to free one arm and one of his legs, allowing him to dodge the attacks of the orange haired teen who viciously lashed out with his kusarigama. _'I can't keep this up for too much longer, this slime is secreting some kind of gas and it's starting to numb my body.'_ The silver haired jonin thought as he ducked under a swing of the Sound Nin's kusarigama.

"Pretty impressive, to be able to dodge like that despite being restrained by Ishi's Nindoro no Jutsu (Human Slime Jutsu); as expected of the Copy Ninja Kakashi-san." The orange haired Sound nin said in awe as Kakashi dodged another swing of his kusarigama.

The face of the fatter Sound nin emerged from part of the slime attached to Kakashi's torso as the jonin fell onto his back. "Not bad for a Konoha shinobi, but it's all over now!" The Sound nin said before his face once again melded into the slime.

Kakashi tried to roll away but found that his body wouldn't move. The slime had become stickier and hardened, gluing him to the ground as the other Sound nin closed in. _'This isn't good, that Kamui from earlier and the failed Raikiri took a lot out of me. I need to end this quick.' _The silver haired copy ninja thought to himself as the Orange haired teen approached.

Meanwhile, Sakura was engaging the pale Sound nin and the scythe wielder. Her body was still numb from Sasuke's earlier attack but she had so far been able to land a few blows on both of her opponents, though the numbers advantage was beginning to take its toll on her.

The white haired boy's body evaporated into a cloud of crystal-like mist that sparkled in the sunlight. "Prepare yourself Konoha kunoichi." He said as the cloud spread out in a circle around her then formed into six copies of the boy that had her surrounded.

Beads of sweat dripped from her body as she tried to steady her breathing. She had to choose a target and attack before he attacked her. She had to remember that the scythe wielder was still on the loose as well. The copies he had made could all be fakes with the real one amongst them or even solid clones like Naruto's shadow clones. There was also the possibility that none of the copies were the original and he wanted her to pick a target so he could launch a surprise attack.

Making her decision she charged toward one of the copies and buried her fist into its skull, shattering it into many shards of ice. The other clones instantly charged her but she didn't break her pace as she kept running forward. Seeing the glare of the sun reflecting off of a blade she instinctively ducked, narrowly avoiding a slash from a scythe that would've beheaded her. She followed up by rocketing her fist into the attacker's ribs, breaking several of them as she was sent flying.

With no time to rest the pinkette spun around to find five copies of the pale boy all armed with claws made of ice that covered their fingers charging her. Taking a chance she put her full force into a punch on the one in the front and sent it flying into the other four, shattering them all into ice shards. Once they had all been defeated the shards of ice gathered and reformed into the original.

"You are quite the formidable opponent. Perhaps I should show a bit of my seriousness." The teen said as he made a handseal. Sakura felt a chill around her lower body and looked down to see a cloud of mist surrounding her feet. She desperately tried to flee but found that her feet were frozen to the ground below. "Too late." The teen said as the cloud of mist traveled upwards, freezing up to her torso in ice.

"Damn!" She cursed through gritted teeth. She had been caught off guard. The pinkette was surprised when she heard a giggle from behind her. She turned her head as much as she could to see the scythe-wielding woman behind her.

"Such raw strength you have! You even managed to break several of my bones with your punches, though I'll fix that soon…" The woman said as she pulled back some of the pinkette's hair, revealing her neck. The black haired woman licked her lips as she bared her slightly elongated fangs before biting into the younger girl's neck, eliciting a yelp from the pinkette. The woman happily hummed to herself as Sakura cried out in pain as she felt the chakra being literally sucked out of her. After a few moments the woman pulled away from the girl's neck, blood dripping from her teeth as she licked a few drops from her lips. "Delicious!"

With a sigh the pale boy made another handsign and the ice that held Sakura in place receded, allowing her to fall unconscious to the ground. "What a pain. I was hoping for more of a challenge than that." He said in his monotone voice.

"Oh come on Yuukio, she was the most fun we've had in a while. I'd love to violate her further…" The black haired woman said as she looked dreamily at the fallen pinkette's body.

"Restrain yourself Kotone-san, we're to follow our orders as given by Orochimaru-sama." The boy scolded the older woman.

"Yuukio! You're no fun at all!" Kotone whined as she pouted at the pale boy.

"Fun wasn't in the mission briefing. Come, Setsuna and Ishi should be finishing up with the Copy Ninja."

At that time, Kakashi had his hands full. Or rather his hand (and the rest of his body) were pinned to the ground by Ishi's slime. On top of that, the Orange haired boy, Setsuna, was preparing to finish him with a strike from his kusarigama.

Setsuna smiled sadistically at the jonin as he swung the kusarigama above his head at a rapid speed. "You know, we were told to let you all live but I don't think Orochimaru-sama would care if we just happened to kill off one of you. I mean just think, killing the famous Copy Ninja Kakashi Hatake, I'd be famous all across the Elemental Nations!" Setsuna said with an insane look on his face.

Deciding that now was the time to act, Kakashi closed his Sharingan eye and focused his chakra. When he opened his eye his Mangekyou Sharingan had activated. Acting quickly, he focused on the slime on his torso and in a risky move used his Mangekyou's signature attack. "Kamui!"

The space around the slime on his torso began to distort and after a few seconds the slime was warped away, along with the front part of his jonin vest. In a swift motion he rocked his body forward and put his weight on his shoulders, bringing his knees to his chest, then used his hands to rocket himself at Setsuna, kicking him square in the chest and knocking the teen down. He then rose to his feet and took a few steps back to put some distance between him and the teen.

The slime on the ground gathered together and reformed into Ishi, who was now considerably slimmer from Kakashi sending some of his slime into another dimension. The other two Sound nin also landed behind Kakashi as Setsuna rose to his feet and drew his shamshir. Kakashi quickly drew a kunai and cut his thumb then made several handseals and slammed his palm to the ground. A split second later several dog summons burst out of the ground and latched onto Setsuna and Ishi.

Before the other two could react Kakashi quickly made a couple of handsigns and three shadow clones appeared at his side, each facing down one of the Sound Shinobi.

"Now, I'll be getting serious." Kakashi said as he prepared to face down the four Sound nin.

Meanwhile, Tayuya was struggling against Sasuke. She had managed to land a few good blows on him with her taijutsu but he was also able to counter her strikes each time she landed a couple. What's worse was he wasn't even using his Curse Seal yet while she was in Level Two. Of course she still hadn't played her trump card yet.

Tayuya reached into her weapons pouch and pulled out her flute as her and Sasuke stared one another down. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her choice of weapon, but that was just what she was hoping for. He had underestimated her and now he was right where she wanted him. As she brought the flute to her lips she was interrupted.

"Tayuya-chan!" Naruto called out. The redhead turned her head to see that the blonde was now covered by an aura of red chakra though it hadn't started to form the fox-like tailed shroud yet. He was still in his initial jinchuuriki form. "Let me fight him. This is my battle!" He demanded as he walked up to her side.

"Idiot! You're using the Kyuubi's chakra! What about your vow?!" She whispered in anger.

The blonde smiled warmly at her, causing her to blush despite the situation. "I made a deal with that old fox, I'm gonna prove I can control his chakra and keep his hate in check and then we'll become partners. That's why I'll use his power to protect you and Inari and all of Konoha as well as the Kyuubi himself!"

She felt her heartbeat speed up and cursed herself for letting him affect her like this in the middle of a situation like this. She frowned and allowed her Curse Mark to recede completely. "Fine, you win dumbass. Just don't do anything TOO stupid." She said as she backed away.

Naruto turned his attention to Sasuke and frowned as the Uchiha just stared at him with his Sharingan activated. "Sasuke… This is your last chance, come back with me to the village or I'll take you back myself on a stretcher."

Sasuke smirked as he drew his chokuto. "As if you could even scratch me dobe."

Without another word Naruto drew his chakra blades and the two charged forward. Their weapons clanged against each other as sparks flew from the metal-on-metal contact. The exchange was back and forth with one of the two gaining a bit of ground then the other taking it right back. After a few moments of locking weapons, Naruto managed to land a kick to Sasuke's chest that staggered him back.

The blonde took the opportunity and charged into Sasuke's guard, slashing him across the chest with his fuuton-enhanced chakra blades, leaving an 'X' shaped scar across his torso. Sasuke winced but countered with a kick to Naruto's neck that knocked the blonde brutally to the floor. The Uchiha then buried his raiton-enhanced blade into Naruto's chest, barely missing his heart and lungs.

Naruto wasted no time in swinging his legs around and kicking Sasuke in the throat, to get the Uchiha off of him. He then pulled the chokuto from his chest and allowed the Kyuubi's chakra to heal him, a process that was quickened by the thick aura of red chakra already surrounding his body. In a matter of seconds the wound had closed, though Naruto still felt the pain from the attack.

Sasuke leapt back and used his chakra to stick to the wall. Making a few quick handseals he dropped his hand below his legs and charged a powerful chidori as he began to unleash his second level of Cursed Seal.

Naruto formed a clone and began preparing an attack of his own. Charging up a very large rasengan the blonde returned the glare he was receiving from the Uchiha.

Tayuya's eyes widened as the two boys had started powering up their signature attacks. Kakashi and the Sound nin had also been alarmed by the sudden display and had turned their attention to the two.

"NARUTO!" Sasuke roared as he leapt off of the wall, his wings gained from his Curse Seal transformation propelling him forward.

"SASUKE!" Naruto cried as he too launched himself into air to counter the Uchiha's attack.

"CHIDORI!"

"OODAMA RASENGAN!"

Kakashi's eyes widened as he watched the two attacks collide. Tayuya and the Sound nin present could only watch in awe as the shockwave from the powerful attacks colliding formed a crater beneath the two boys before they were both engulfed in a white sphere of light.

Inside the sphere Naruto stood across from Sasuke. Both in their normal forms without the Curse Seal or the Kyuubi's influence. They stared at each other in silence, Naruto with a look of grief on his face and Sasuke with one of disgust. Behind Naruto Sasuke could see the silhouette of the Kyuubi, while behind Sasuke Naruto could see the silhouette of Orochimaru. Both of them were alarmed by this, their eyes widening in shock as they each came to different realizations.

The moment inside the light quickly faded however as the light dissipated to reveal Naruto on his hands and knees panting with Sasuke knelt down on one knee doing the same of few yards away. Tayuya and Kakashi, who was holding an unconscious Sakura in his arms, landed next to the blonde. Sasuke shakily stood to his feet then leapt up to the outside of the crater they had all been battling in. The Sound nin quickly came to his side.

Naruto and the others all looked up at Sasuke with different emotions written on each of their faces; Betrayal, disappointment, anger, and guilt. Sasuke looked down upon them with nothing but wrath written on his face as he raised his right hand to the sky. The Sound nin visibly flinched when he did this as though something horrible was about to happen. Sasuke scowled at Naruto as he prepared to bring his hand down in a swift motion.

At the last moment however, his hand was grabbed by none other than Orochimaru. The Snake Sannin and Kabuto had appeared from out of nowhere and stopped Sasuke from doing whatever it is that he was preparing to do to the Konoha shinobi.

"Now, now, there's no need to use that jutsu Sasuke-kun." The snake sannin spoke in his menacing voice. Naruto, Tayuya, and Kakashi all flinched at his arrival. Now things looked very bad for them.

Sasuke glared at the sannin. "Remove your hand." He stated simply.

Kabuto chuckled to himself at the Uchiha's attitude. "Once again you forget just who it is you're talking to, Sasuke-kun."

"I have no reason to stop." The Uchiha said as he glared down at Naruto.

"What about Akatsuki?" Kabuto said catching everyone's attention. "These guys have already killed atleast one of their members. If we leave them alive they're bound to kill of some more, which can only mean good news for us. If Itachi's comrades are in your way, you won't be able to complete your plans for revenge will you?"

Sasuke now directed his glare at Kabuto. "That's quite the pathetic excuse."

"But surely you'd accept it if it would increase your odds of exacting your revenge, even by as little as 1%?" Kabuto said, knowing immediately that he had won this argument.

"…"

Orochimaru released Sasuke's hand and the raven haired teen let it fall to his side harmlessly. "Let's take our leave." The sannin said as he, Sasuke, Kabuto, and the Sound nin all disappeared slowly in a variation of the shunshin jutsu.

Naruto frowned and hung his head as they all escaped. This attempt had been a failure. Tayuya put her hand on his shoulder and cracked a small smile as she tried to lighten the mood. "Don't get down Shithead. I know you, and there's no way you'd give up after one failed attempt, right?"

Naruto looked up at her with a determined smile. "Right! Next time I'll definitely bring him back for sure!" The blonde said with determination.

Tayuya giggled a bit surprising Naruto as it was uncharacteristic of her to show her feminine side. "You're always so determined and eager when it comes to the people you care about, maybe that's one of the reasons I lo-" Tayuya stopped herself, realizing she almost said too much.

"Lo?" Naruto inquired with a raised eyebrow.

Kakashi also raised an eyebrow as he covered his sharingan eye with his headband. "What was that Tayuya? Were you saying that you love-" Kakashi began but was cut off by the redhead.

"I was saying that's one of the reasons I… I-um… Uh-One of the reasons I…I loathe the color orange!" She yelled frantically.

Naruto cried anime tears hearing her words. "What?! That's so horrible Tayuya-chan! How can you hate such an amazing color?!"

"It-It's too bright! Yeah, and it gives me a headache because it gives off such a disgustingly energetic vibe!"

"… That's weird Tayuya, I thought you were going to confess to Naruto or somethi-"

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH! SHUT THE HELL UP YOU PERVERTED CYCLOPS! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S HOLDING AN UNCONSCIOUS GIRL! And she's even your pupil!" Tayuya shuddered at the last part.

"Ka-KAKASHI-SENSEI! BUT YOU'RE SO OLD! WHAT A PERV!" Naruto yelled in shock.

Kakashi's eye widened as he tried to deny the claims. "What?! Wait no, this is- She's unconscious so of course someone has to-"

"What a dirty old man! How shameless!" Tayuya whispered in disgust.

"You're kidding me! Naruto, you don't believe this, right?"

"Don't get close to me, Rapist-Sensei!"

"Naruto! Wait, I can explain!"

"Stay away!" The blonde cried as he fled from his sensei.

Tayuya couldn't help but burst out laughing at the situation she'd caused. _'That'll teach that pervert to mess with me!'_ She thought to herself as she watched Naruto frantically scurry away from Kakashi who was trying to clear up the misunderstanding while he still held an unconscious Sakura in his arms. The redhead smiled to herself as she watched the scene unfold. _'I'll be here for you Shithead, no matter what.'_

* * *

**_Author's Note:_**_ And there it is. Hope it met everyone's expectations. To clear a few things up, the four Sound Ninja that appeared are the new Sound Four and they'll have their own arc some time soon. I'll post some info on them below this note if you're interested. Also, if you're wondering what the point of the little Inari and Gai-sensei thing was, it was more to just kind of show what Inari's up to and it worked as a good transition for me. Anyway, I'm planning to work on a second fic soon. It will be a Naruto/SmallHarem with a FemKyuubi and twin sister as the main girls in the harem along with one other girl. I'm pretty excited to write it because it's been taking up all of the space in the creative part of my mind lately. Well, if you enjoyed the chapter then please review, I like to get feedback!_


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